An open letter to ANZ: Be better
ANZ made a mistake with its ‘Love Speech’ campaign, argues Paul Scarf in this open letter to the bank. As he says, a marginalised community can reclaim slurs – a corporation can’t.
Dear ANZ,
Thank you for being an ally to the LGBTQ+ community for the past 15 years. Your support in lending your platform and resources to promote equality should be commended. The way you have encouraged openness and diversity within your workplace is admirable.
But your most recent campaign “Love Speech” is one of the most hurtful and triggering campaigns I – as a gay man – and fellow friends who identify as trans, lesbian, queer and bi, have seen in a long time (and that’s saying something considering the onslaught of tone-deaf advertising we endured throughout the same-sex marriage plebiscite).
You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you dont.
Paul – what an absolute whinge fest!!!
I to have spoken with members of the community who absolutely adore this, so no, I don’t think ANZ need to do better.
How about giving them props for consistent support over the years and not drilling down to the minutia of what some trans kid ‘may think’ when they see ANZ’s message?
Sounds like an opportunity for self / agency promotion via a completely fabricated issue.
Dear Media Buyer,
What I think you’re trying to say is:
“I feel attacked by you saying this dredged up trauma from your past because I like the campaign so I’m going to say you’re the problem rather than consider that people interpret messages based on their own experience and that interpretation being different from mine doesn’t mean it’s invalid. I would rather attack you for having a different opinion than mine than accept my own opinion isn’t the be all and end all”
You may be right, ‘Media Buyer’ – but posting your quite confrontational comment anonymously does nothing to stimulate a genuine conversation around these issues. Rather, it generates more of the same back-and-forth slagging and slurring that dominates our social media as soon as important issues are raised.
Your “what some trans kid ‘may think'” statement, in particular, is poorly thought-through and smacks of marginalisation.
Paul, as a straight, white, cis guy I don’t have your lived experience. Thank you for sharing your perspective.
You’re not ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’. If you’re a grown-up professional working in this space you can look at this objectively and say, ‘some people will like it and some will hate it but we should listen to the feedback and learn to make it stronger’. And he did give them props for the support, it’s literally in the first paragraph of the article.
Also – when we’re talking about minority communities, shouldn’t we be drilling down to what they think? And getting marketers to think about the individual as an example within the broader context? It’s not a mainstream topic i.e. mass market. It’s not a bunch of mainstream issues. What is it though, is bigotry and harmful stereotyping that affects a specific group of people in our community. So what they see being said, and the messages individuals take away about their community, does matter and is important.
Thanks for reading my “whinge fest” ‘Media Buyer’! Re: ‘props for their consistent support over the years’ please see paragraph 1. I’m happy for you to come for me and my opinion ‘Media Buyer’ but don’t come for a trans kid and even try and imagine their experience when they’re exposed to this.
As a fellow gay man in media, I agree completely. I am sick of representation of LGBT+ focusing on a narrative of victimhood and negative connotations. How about treating us as victors, over victims? Normal people as opposed to a freak show? Not all gay men want to wear heels, the vast majority don’t wear heels at all. This campaign is a pale imitation of RuPaul’a drag race. I would ask, take the money from this dire campaign and invest in LGBT+ businesses and show support by booking advertising space in LGBT+ media outlets. ANZ have a large APAC footprint, where are they showing support to LGBT+ in the other pacific countries where homosexuality is outlawed and ANZ is a dominant bank? They are conveniently quiet in those locations. Support for our community has decreased in America due to identity politics, please don’t do that here ANZ – we are normal (boring) humans – not a freak show.
We all have opinions
Cool lets talk about how wrong you are and how right I am
You have said exactly what I have felt and thought, thank you Paul. Reading the words that have been thrown at my community and I across my life, and seeing it being turned into jovial slang, is not helpful. Thanks for your incredibly supportive work to date, ANZ, but this one isn’t ok.
He did give props for consistent support over the years though? He’s totally correct, a marginalised community can reclaim slurs made against them but a corporation does not have the same right.
ANZ appears to be doing a lot more in this space than many other major companies yet it’s still not good enough for some people.
Yikes!
Not sure how Media Buyer, as not a member of the community can comment on this campaign’s impact on the community.
Agree ANZ deserves credit for long term support and having a go but a campaign that at best divides and at worst upsets the community needs to be re-looked at.
Incidentally, anyone noticed that Absolut has a campaign out that takes the positive angle on the same topic?
Interesting read.
For what it is worth, I found the video genuine, touching and even a bit empowering. That’s what happens when you pass the microphone to real people from the community with real experiences, made especially powerful with the variety of genders, identities and backgrounds. Though I would admit that other elements of this campaign are a bit tone-deaf and cringeworthy, I put this down to someone feeling the need to turn the camp level to 11 because its Mardi Gras and that’s whats expected (?)
I think that all social campaigns should aim to do better, everytime. Keep their finger on the pulse, ask what they got wrong, update the blueprint for next time.
As a straight white male….
…never mind I’ll see myself out.
It’s tricky to speak on behalf of any community, especially one with such diversity – but the work ANZ are doing should be commended, not condemned.
Pauly, we COULD say that it’s kind of hypocritical for you to speak on behalf of the whole community too, could we not?
Give them a break – the campaign is here to drive inclusion and its a season of celebration, so crack a smile and try to spread some light instead of criticism.
Totally agree. It’s encouraging to see brands like Absolut and ANZ throwing their weight behind messaging like this.
You’re never going to please everyone and unfortunately, it’s just never enough for some (particularly those who claim to speak in behalf of a whole community).
While we’re discussing ANZ campaigns, another minority where they’ve thrown a lot of ad spend is towards disability. Firstly, good work but secondly, PLEASE FIND NEW TALENT! Dylan Alcott is a great guy but he’s not the only person in Australia with disabilities.
Totally agree, Paul. I was having the same conversation with some of our team, and they were pretty unimpressed, to say the least.
As one of the team said: “Sorry, apart from making me feel like I’m different to everyone else, how does this help me with my mortgage selection and service”?
This brings up a huge conversation that is often missed in marketing – what do brands have the right to speak about, how can they do it in a way that approaches the subject with authority and are there subjects or sub-topics that are simply off the table. As an agency, it’s something that we have to think of on behalf of clients as they often believe their brand is doing the best job of any. Most of the time, the award-winning work pushes the boundaries of what is and isn’t welcome from a brand, but hopefully, the execution pulls it back into line and society welcomes the conversation it brings.
Personally, I think ANZ has done a fantastic job working within the LGBTQ+ space (without being just another brand jumping on board) in the past but I tend to agree with Paul, this might just be one of those subjects that a brand is unable to tackle, or maybe the execution is a tad off. And that is okay too! ANZ is still a supporter of the community, and I assume they still will be through the backlash of their latest campaign.
This campaign is likely an over stretch from a brand that felt they had more of a right to show up with this language and tone than maybe they do … but in the longer term they’ve demonstrated legitimate sustained effort in this space when it would have been easier and cheaper to leave it alone. As a customer I think the intent is right even if the execution is wrong.
All said through the lens of a middle aged white straight guy.
Here here Paul. The fact that LGBTQI+ groups and members raised concerns with this campaign early on but were ignored is abhorrent. The fact that posters are being defaced to read ‘Trans people are sick of being murdered’ speaks volumes about how tone deaf, condescending, and dangerous this campaign is unfolding to those it’s meant to be ‘helping’. Look on Twitter and you’ll see what the queer community really think of this work. Yes ANZ has done incredible work in the past, but this campaign misses the mark in a big way. If this gets awarded by juries, I’ll be very saddened.
With you 100% Paul!
I completely disagree Paul. Mardi Gras is a civil rights parade. Yes we’ve come a long way since the first march in 1978. But if we don’t continue to stand up for what is right, then we are doing a disservice to the original marchers. Not challenging the hate speech. Not protesting the religious freedoms legislation. Paying out millions to Falou.. We need to call out the name callers. This campaign does exactly this. Which is why I and so many of my queer friends love and applaud this work. We’re not gonna lie down and take it. We’re not going to cover it up in glitter and rainbows. Thank you ANZ for being so bold. And thank you to everyone involved for your bravery. It’s hard to stick your neck out without people trying to slap you down. But We need this to be put on the table. We don’t all have to agree with the approach. But words do hurt and this campaign makes a powerful and emotional plea to stop the hate.
I like that Paul started by thanking ANZ for their support, because alot of what they have done has been positive and highly visible, certainly more than other banks (to my knowledge).
However, they are also encouraging hurtful and alienating stereotypes and it’s OK for us to tell them how they can do better next year. And I think we can have this conversation without people feeling the need to have an absolute PRO or ANTI sentiment like some of these comments.