Student Engagement Team's Student Voice Welcome Debate on Diversity!
Co-chaired by myself, Odreika Mclean the Student's Ethnic Minorities Officer and the Faith and beliefs Officer.
Student Engagement Team's Student Voice Welcome Debate on Diversity!
Co-chaired by myself, Odreika Mclean (Ethnic Minorities Officer), and Sarah Hassan the Faith and Belief Officer.
The topic for the debate:
'Are corporations doing enough to diversify and broaden their branding?'
Even though this session was only an hour long, there was a rich debate between attendees which included fellow students and University staff. Attendees also shared their thoughts as the Officers posed different questions based on the topic.
Following from this lively debate, my main takeaways were:
- The branding of different corporations is usually not a concern to most individuals. However, our concerns about what is being misrepresented or underrepresented within a corporation often arise when we start to engage with their branding more frequently.
- A lack of representation amongst the decision-makers within a corporation could lead to brand promotions that are both culturally insensitive and contribute to the marginalisation of groups of people within society.
- Corporations have a part to play in fostering a sense of belonging for different demographics that exist within society including race, gender, sexuality, ability, culture and religion.
There is a common argument that corporate brands that are the most diverse, achieve more success and profit. However, not every effort made by a corporation to diversity their branding is received well by the public. Intergenerational biases, anti-black racism and prejudices against certain groups of people in society still exist. This can often present an external barrier to any progress taken by a corporation when trying to diversify its brand.
To also reiterate one of the key points from this debate, small changes amongst the decision-makers within a corporation could lead to big impacts in helping a brand to become more diverse and inclusive. This is especially important as the media and advertising of a brand also have the power to change perceptions and attitudes toward different societal groups.
As students, teachers and staff at the University of Derby, we all have a part to play in helping to improve the diversity that exists within any corporation that we engage with. This way we collectively make small changes that can lead to big impacts on corporate branding and help to create a sense of belonging to all groups of people within society for generations to come.
#ProudToBe an equality, diversity and inclusion Officer at Derby university!
By Odreika Mclean
Ethnic Minorities Officer
About Me
- 3rd year BSc Occupational Therapy Student.
- Student’s Ethnic Minorities Officer for 2021/22.
- Passionate about helping to build a supportive network for Black, Asian and other minority ethnic students at Derby University.
Please also ensure to join me on Facebook at Derbyunion - Ethnic Minorities. Here you can find out more about my manifestos and see my welcome video!