Karel McIntosh Talks About The Americanisation Of Our Cultures – And How Adidas Needs Her Help

Caribbean Public Relations blogger Karel McIntosh thinks that many large companies just don’t get it when they design marketing plans that consider the Caribbean to be one culture – or worse, throw us in with South or Central American campaigns.

As usual, Karel provides a good read for those interested in marketing and communications within the Caribbean.

Here’s an excerpt…

Caribbean people tend to be very critical, especially of their own, and very selective or dismissive about celebrity worship. However, as much as we “bad talk” our heroes, the reality is that we do love them. So why haven’t more companies capitalised on Caribbean pride by embracing more Caribbean celebrities?

Marketing to Caribbean people

I think it’s because they really don’t understand us. If you’re not from the Caribbean, then you won’t understand that just labelling us all Caribbean doesn’t define one niche. You won’t understand the offence caused when you ask if Trinidad is part of Jamaica. A Barbadian is very different from a Jamaican, who is different from a Trinidadian, who in turn is very different from their sister Tobagonian, and I could go on and on.

(big snip)

Adidas, here’s a tip. While Latin America and the Caribbean may share some similarities, you really just can’t lump us together and assume that the same strategy will work for all and sundry. So, you’ve got to mix your team. Adidas you’ve got to hire some Caribbean persons to join your marketing efforts. Give me a call or e-mail caribbeanprblog@yahoo.com.

(big snip)

As companies like Adidas seek to increase its presence and overt commitment to Caribbean markets, I hope that they consider our culture, understand it, and use it to boost their brand in a way that does not dilute or ignore our identity and way of life.

… read the entire article at Caribbean Public Relations (link here)

Some Advice For The DLP Blog…

Folks, we at Barbados Free Press are hardly experts at blogging or media (Cliverton aside – he’s really eddumacated now. Got hisself a dagree ‘an everything! Smart boy, that Cliverton! 🙂 ) …

… but we think that the Democratic Labour Party blog should really take a second look at how they present their leader. Accepting that many readers will only look at the title and the picture, the DLP Blog should be conscious of the fact that many folks see the photo, read the title and then stop there.

Why does it matter?

Have a look… 😉

We Were Asked To Publish This Humanist Article… So We Did

Our friend Gobeithio has asked us to publish this piece on humanism. We’ll save our comments for later and see you in the discussion…

Discussion Of Environmental Humanism In Barbados And Guyana

We have a small group in Guyana, and want to get something going in Barbados. You can get a feel for what we are about on http://www.gobeithio.org

A quick summary of environmental humanism: Common Sense.

We are out to make better lives for ourselves, and improve the world around us, through common sense. Intrinsic to this is Rationalist Thought. A requirement of common sense is sound ecology, and because we find ourselves in a rather perilous situation with our changing environment, the major emphasis on improving our condition is environmentalism.

Some previous attempts to infuse responsible ecology into movements have ended up bringing some mystical, or even divine elements into play. That cannot happen with us because, by definition, we don’t refer to any divine revelation, magic or mysticism. We don’t have closed minds – it might well be that certain paranormal phenomena will be accepted by mainstream science in the future, and if/when that happens we would be only to happy to accept it, but we are not going to base any part of our worldview around such matters by guessing, fearing or wanting them to be true.

In Guyana recently, an old woman was battered to death because she was believed to have been a supernatural being called an ol’ higue, that fed on the blood of babies. This is a rather extreme example of irrational thought, but it serves to prove a point.

An emphasis on education, and exposure to Rationalist thought, is the best defence there is against extremism; – extremism of religosity, nationalism or various ideology.

Barbados, with its tremendous literacy level, is well positioned to take this forward.

I have posted in some other threads, both in the Environment and Religion fora. I did answer a few questions on the thread about Barbados Muslims not killing anyone.

The desire is to gather a number of individuals that the above appeals to, and who wish to be a part of it, and contribute to improving our own lives, and the wellbeing of society.

There is an urgency here. The social and environmental problems loom large in our near future. It really is going to get hot.

Gobeithio