Diversitywashing: brands and their expressive (in)coherences

Abstract

In the problem of media discourses and representation of diverse bodies and subjects, the need to deepen the debate on the impacts and limits of advertising initiatives is perceptible. This work seeks, therefore, to focus on the concept of diversitywashing, understanding that many brand strategies camouflage inconsistent practices, especially in relation to the productive routines of advertising and the traces of image and textual stereotypes, which reveal a contradiction of what they discursively expose. Thus, it is proposed here to discuss the contemporary demands on the relationship between media and diversity, conceptualizing the notion of diversitywashing and pointing to six common features of this practice (inadequate representations; attribution of neutrality; contradictory backstage; limited diversity; incoherent behaviors; and past life) in light of theoretical assumptions about self-performatization, management of impressions and expressive coherence.