Anastasis Karklina Gabriel is a cultural theorist and the author of the book “Cultural Intelligence for Marketers”.
When Apple suddenly incurs the wrath of the public for a cultural gaffe, it’s clear times have changed.
The offense was committed earlier this year when Apple released a 10-minute video titled “Out of Office”, the latest installment in a lighthearted promotional series called “The Underdogs”, which follows a team of co-workers as they travel to Thailand on a quest for a new packaging factory. While overseas they have to overcome various local challenges such as language barriers, quirky locals and less than swanky accommodations. The film’s depiction of the country’s culture outraged Thai citizens and officials who felt it misrepresented them, forcing Apple to shut down the video after calls for a nationwide boycott.
It was a rare misstep for Apple which is of course famous for its deft touch at tapping into the cultural zeitgeist. But Apple is certainly not alone in inadvertently trampling on cultural sensitivities. There are many ways for marketers to go wrong anytime they venture across cultural boundaries. Cultural values and norms can vary dramatically from one part of the world to another, from one segment of society to another, and those differences are not always understood by brand marketers who are trained to bucket everyone according to their demographics and lifestyle.
Marketers can also go wrong when they attempt to exploit a new social trend. Think of the conservative backlash to Bud Light’s social media promotion featuring the transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Or the infamously tone-deaf commercial showing Kendall Jenner handing a police officer a can of Pepsi in what was seen as a shameless attempt by the beverage company to co-opt the Black Lives Matter movement. And then there was of course Gilette’s widely mocked attempt to piggyback on the #MeToo movement with its “toxic masculinity” ad.
These days it’s riskier than ever for brands to take a stand on hot button issues or show empathy for marginalized groups in society. Some progress was made following the racial strife of 2020, when companies “woke up” to the need for a diverse and inclusive workplace. But then the cultural wars erupted between the “anti-woke” activists and social justice warriors. Today no brand wants to risk sparking a boycott of their products, so many have backed off the idea of openly pushing for social change.
Still, many people want companies to do what’s right– to be socially conscious – especially the under-30 generation who expect brands to be a unifying and positive force in society. But in order for brand marketers to serve as agents of change, they must first become more attuned to the social changes going on around them, and be hyper-aware of cross-cultural differences.
In short, marketers must strive to raise their level of cultural knowledge, according to Anastasia Karklina Gabriel, a cultural theorist with a doctorate in cultural studies, whose current job at Reddit is to help brands do exactly that. In her book “Cultural Intelligence for Marketers”, she lays out a pragmatic framework for more inclusive marketing. Despite her corporate role, she remains a social activist at heart, and a self-described “revolutionary”.
I started out by asking her why she described herself that way, when most marketers would be very wary of making such a bold claim in this era of cultural acrimony.
Anastasia Karklina Gabriel (AG)::I absolutely love that we are starting with this question. It’s probably one of the most interesting questions I’ve gotten at the beginning of an interview. I really come into the marketing from a very non-traditional background. I am, by training, a cultural researcher, theorist and activist. And, you know, probably five years ago, if you told me that I would transition to marketing, I would laugh hysterically, because that was a completely opposite of what I was doing. I was studying culture, I was in academy, I was really deeply versed in theory, and I was always very active in social political issues. And so that’s kind of where that sentiment comes in. And now I really see that as my biggest superpower in marketing. A lot of times as marketers, we look at the brands that we work on or look after from a very business lens, right, a very commercial lens. But ordinary people don’t really think about brands in the same way that we do. And I really draw on that activist background to think about how ordinary people think about businesses, what they want from brands, and how ordinary people now increasingly want brands to, if not challenge the status quo, at least be aware of it.
And so that revolutionary piece for me has always been a part of my academic background, of wanting to challenge ideas, to really shift paradigms, to question the things that we have accepted for granted, because I truly believe that that is what drives innovation, drives new ideas, drives new thinking. And so while I’m no longer perhaps on the front lines of a protest, demanding change, I’m very much thinking about change and innovation in my work. And really the core of what I do is to push us as marketers towards new ideas, new ways of thinking, so that we can be better. So that’s why I still identify as a revolutionary in my work.
SS: Well, it’s perfect, really, given where marketing is today, at an inflection point, it’s going through a bit of an identity crisis. It does need to embrace a lot of the principles and practices that you talk about in the book. And we’re going to come back to that subject, because it’s a deep one. Let me just go back to a bit of your background, you’re a Poli Sci Major at Duke. I was actually a Poli Sci Major as well. Later, you earned your doctorate in cultural studies, as you alluded to.
How did you get drawn into the world of marketing, of all things? As you were just discussing a moment ago, this seemed like such a remote possibility when you’re in academia. But – so how did you enter the world of marketing and why?