No abstract

Along with the COVID-19 public health crisis, the summer of 2020 will likely be contextualized as a pivotal moment during which conversations regarding both racial and social injustice pierced the silence that so often characterizes American society on these issues. Additionally, for marketers and advertisers, the summer represents one in which unprecedented actions were taken to respond to calls for racial equality. While many Americans attempted to adjust to stay at home orders due to the coronavirus, to some extent they became a captive audience of witnesses to acts of racial injustice; most notably the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. At the same time, Confederate statues were moved from public view and protestors took to the streets to demand an end to systemic racism. Numerous companies and brands responded with messaging and rebranding efforts to illustrate allyship and support for African Americans and other communities of color. This paper provides a perspective on the corporate response to the Black Lives Matter protests during the summer of 2020 and provides examples of corporate and rebranding efforts. While the level of commitment to sustainable change and advocacy as it relates to racial inequality is yet to be determined (and in many ways extends beyond a review of branding and messaging activities), this paper highlights some of the challenges corporations have faced.

The pharmaceutical industry includes low levels of African American women in leadership positions. In 2010, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity office, African American women comprised only 1.5% of senior executives and 3.4% of first/mid-level managers. This qualitative study describes the leadership behaviors of 8 African American women leaders within the pharmaceutical industry. The approaches used by these women leaders to navigate their environments illustrate that although these women may be limited in number, they are in fact leaning into and embracing their leadership roles; and consequently impacting their organizations and communities. Seven themes are found to categorize the leadership experiences of these women as leaders. They are: 1) making a difference, 2) leveraging information and knowledge, 3) serving as mentors, 4) establishing and maintaining credibility, 5) asking for support, 6) illustrating integrity at the highest levels and 7) facing up to challenges. While the study is limited in its transferability by its qualitative design and number of participants, the findings provide insightful themes regarding the common experiences of these particular African American women leaders in the pharmaceutical industry. Keywords: leadership, women, African American, phenomenology, qualitative, diversity, pharmaceutical

This article captures a conversation with Vita Harris, the Global Chief Strategy Officer of Foote, Cone & Belding, and Yvette Lynne Bonaparte, a marketing faculty member at an HBCU. The conversation reveals not only trends in multicultural marketing, or diverse mass marketing as it is referred to at FCB, it highlights the framework used in this global advertising agency to address diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace, workforce, and their work. Highlights of Harris' journey to the C-suite of one of the world's largest global advertising agencies are reviewed. The role of advertising in society as a means of advancing culture, removing stereotypes of underrepresented populations, and increasing cultural competence is discussed.

Section 3-Research Methods college students. Although we would have liked to collect data on more topics or in more detail, we believed it was necessary to keep the survey instrument as concise as possible.