HEC Montreal | An advertiser is not a suicide bomber

It is not yesterday that advertising sows controversy. The latest is that of HEC Montreal showing a veiled woman. The perfect example for who wants to polarize a subject. But reading the comments here and there, we can see that a certain nuance is necessary. Seeing the thing with hindsight seems to me necessary here.

David Crete
Professor of Marketing, co-director of the short program in digital marketing, School of Management, University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières

Generally, an organization does not produce an advertising campaign to intentionally provoke or disturb. A campaign is based on a message, a line of communication, something to say. It is true that campaigns have already provoked voluntarily. Remember Benetton a long time ago: we did it then to send a message, to take a position on important issues such as abortion or homosexuality.

There has been an obvious trend for some time, namely the recourse by several organizations to a veiled woman as an image.

Within minutes, I noted Amazon, Tresiba Insulin, Carleton University, and, of course, HEC. The fields and industries are therefore varied.

A few years ago, a study showed that advertising is above all a reflection of society. That it does not seek to influence this company except of course to push the consumer to buy such or such product or service. What HEC undoubtedly does by wanting to send the message of its openness, of its welcome. This is certainly its axis of communication, its message. It can also be interpreted as reflecting this openness to welcoming the most minority minorities, veiled women being a minority in many countries.

EDI practices

It must be said that almost all organizations are under significant pressure to develop EDI (equity, diversity, inclusion) policies and practices. The expression of this practice obviously translates into advertising as well. One can, on the other hand, wonder about the use of a veiled woman as an image. An advertiser is aware that this image may cause discomfort, even controversy. EDI can be expressed differently. Holding the consumer’s attention being one of the greatest challenges of advertising, the veil is succeeding, for the moment. One of the principles should not be forgotten, however: there is a danger that the form prevails over the substance of the message. Which is probably the case with this HEC ad. Many will retain the veiled young woman rather than the heart of the message.

Advertising is of course a reflection of the values ​​of an organization. We saw it with Benetton. When you type EDI in Google, HEC appears in the first results. The school page explains in particular what diversity is: “Diversity is a broad concept, which refers to our differences and the plurality of our experiences. Its markers are multiple. It can be an ethnic origin, belonging to a religion or to a racialized group. It is therefore not surprising that she exposes a veiled woman in one of her advertisements. Moreover, it is not the only university institution with this EDI approach.

But advertising has always provoked debate and discussion. It is surely a virtue that we can attribute to him. I am not convinced, however, that advertisers should be seen as suicide bombers wanting to impose their view or a new morality. It would be giving them a power and a talent that they do not have. We advertise to sell something, whether it’s insulin or university programs. HEC only wants one thing, that its classes are filled.