Meaningful Diversity Initiatives Lead to Meaningful Press Experiences: Why Your Brand Should Care About Diversity Inclusion

Diversity has remained an important business topic for decades, but only it has only recently been propelled to consistent headline status. A convergence of factors – an increase in minority deaths by law enforcement, nationwide protests, the emergence of social media, and a pandemic that focused national attention on social injustice issues – created a landscape where it’s no longer a matter of if your business should address diversity, but how. With diversity now a leading topic in the national conversation, many have elevated expectations for companies to weigh in and take a stand. 

As diversity increasingly dominates public narratives, public relations can enable the process of both adopting positive diversity-driven policies and promoting inclusivity. It can also prove detrimental. The difference between championing a cause and failing miserably lies inherently in the actions taken (or not taken) to back up public declarations concerning diversity. 

We’ve discussed the expectation for brands to respond or actively participate in important culture-driven conversations; but it’s actually more important that any public declaration is reflected in external and internal business practices.

If a company's leadership is exclusively white, it clearly reflects the importance of diversity to the public. However, if a company hires a Chief Diversity Officer and announces new diversity initiatives, that proves more valuable – at least in the interim. On high stakes issues such as diversity, public opinion shows no mercy. Where there is talk, the public expects action.

That’s why the best diversity initiatives – from an implementation and PR perspective – are those backed by genuine intention, followed by meaningful action. You can elicit positive reactions by demonstrating the drive to want to do better, but failing to reinforce intent with execution invariably results in public relations failure. Intention without concerted effort is why most initiatives fall flat.

In many cases, PR comes into play on diversity issues when the integrity of a business is called into question. Take for example the Olympic committee, which recently came under fire for remarks by the president of the Tokyo organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori made comments about limiting the number of women in meetings ostensibly to reduce meeting times because, essentially, women talk too much. The detriment of those comments was two-fold: it tarnished the iconic Olympic brand and undermined the Olympic Committee’s public efforts for gender equality. If the organization cannot internally promote diversity, how can the public expect the committee to achieve gender equality in the games?  

However, when intention aligns with action, it becomes a story worth telling, and that generates positive PR – i.e., well-deserved publicity for an act truly worth noting. 

Campaign Image from Tommy Hilfiger’s “Tommy Adaptive” line.

Take, for example, Tommy Hilfiger. The brand launched an active campaign to incorporate diversity into its offerings, announcing “Tommy Adaptive,” a line catering to disabled audiences. Partnering with the Runway of Dreams Foundation in 2016, Tommy Hilfiger created a space within its overall brand for an underserved community that looks and feels the same as their other popular apparel lines. Tommy Adaptive has resonated with many audiences and boosted Tommy Hilfiger’s positive publicity. Many YouTuber influencers, such as Josh Sundquist, The Wheel Me, and Sitting Pretty Lolo, have dedicated videos wearing and reviewing the quality of the Tommy Adaptive products, not only making Tommy Hilfiger more approachable and marketable, but opening the door for other industry brands to follow their lead. 

Lenovo provides another example. The company has woven a foundation of diversity throughout its business culture and publicly prides itself on “blending two distinct cultures of East and West into one company…while enabling local flexibility.” To translate this commitment into its corporate culture and proactively highlight it within their business practices, the company has embarked on diversity-centric initiatives, such as hosting an annual ‘Inclusion in the Workplace,’ creating resource groups for LGBTQ+ and employees of color, and maintaining status as one of the top places to work on Fortune’s Global 500 list. This has resulted in numerous positive press experiences for the Lenovo, including a recent corporate diversity and inclusivity feature in a Business News Daily piece. Forbes also interviewed Lenovo’s Chief Diversity Officer, Yolanda Lee Conyers, and her continuing experience with the tech company.

Diversity and public relations often go hand-in-hand. In some cases, PR is vital to shaping a brand’s diversity story in the public sector. In others, it plays the “fixer” role, addressing negative narratives and reshaping negative or indifferent public opinion. But PR is only as powerful as the content it reflects. If diversity truly represents an effort your company claims to advocate, or correct, any public storytelling must be supported by meaningful initiatives. Such integrity-driven PR can achieve truly meaningful, sustainable results.