Progressive Organizational Movements

MAC’s Apology for Juarez Makeup Line: Effective and Authentic

August 5, 2010

Tweet It’s not often that I get to follow up a post about an organization’s disappointing actions with a post celebrating that very organization’s next step. Given how easy it is to pay attention to and be outraged by the bad actions, it is all the more important to devote some energy to positive resolutions– […]

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IS TEDWomen Sexist? Use the “Group Replacement Test” and tell us what you think

August 2, 2010

Tweet Everyone who’s ever asked the question: “Is this Racist?” “Is this Sexist?” “Is this Anti-Semitic?” “Is this Homophobic” or the plain vanilla “Is this Offensive?” has tried the Group Replacement Test. The Group Replacement Test With the Group Replacement Test, you take out the name/noun of the group you’re wondering about, and you replace […]

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Separate Still Isn’t Equal: Sexism and TEDWomen

July 28, 2010

Tweet I really, really wanted to put this post here on Authentic Organizations, but my colleagues at The Op-Ed Project told me to shoot big…. so here it is, on The Huffington Post’s Politics section. Please come read the post (it’s only 700 words!) add a comment, and encourage the HuffPo to keep printing contentious […]

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Target Misses the Mark on Diversity: Corporate Donation equals Corporate Homophobia

July 28, 2010

Tweet How do you know whether an organization is racist, or sexist, or homophobic? You can use my 6 Degrees test, or you can use an even simpler method: You can watch where they put their money. Target has put its money behind the campaign of a homophobe who’s against same-sex marriage. This single action […]

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Only A Cosmetic Apology? MAC’s Juarez Controversy & Fauxial Awareness

July 23, 2010

Tweet There are apologies that are superficial and apologies that reflect genuine remorse.  There are apologies that demonstrate regret and apologies that initiate restitution. And then, there is the apology that MAC Cosmetics has offered for its offensive Juarez Makeup Collection. [Note, added later: Be *sure* to read the followup post:  MAC’s Apology for Juarez […]

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Is The Daily Show Sexist? Use the 6 Degrees of Sexism Test to judge for yourself

July 9, 2010

Tweet The media storm surrounding Jezebel’s claim that The Daily Show is sexist has tangled up our common assumptions about what does or does not make an organization sexist. Whether or not an organization is “sexist”–or for that matter racist, classist, sustainable, Mormon, Black, etc. – matters to the organization’s members and to its audience. […]

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Implicit Complicity and “Negative Spillover”: Reputation Damage from BP’s Oil Spill Crisis

June 30, 2010

Tweet What do birds, beaches, and Chevron have in common? They have been “tarred by the same gush” of “negative spillover” from BP’s Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. In one of the weirder cases of a collision between literal and figurative language, the “negative spillover” of BPs Deepwater Horizon crisis is soiling not only birds and beaches, […]

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Fronting for “the Man”: Can BP disarm our anger by using a Black “Teddy-Bear” Spokesperson?

June 24, 2010

Tweet [Trigger alert: This post is about racism.] There is no more incendiary question than the implicit and unspoken question that often follows the promotion of non-white and/or non-male employees: Did s/he get the job because s/he’s qualified, or did s/he get the job because s/he’s (fill in the diversity criterion here)? Corporate American is […]

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BP’s Bravest Brandividual: What could be motivating Darryl Willis?

June 22, 2010

Tweet If you’ve been paying attention to BP’s “Making it right” newspaper advertising, or if you’ve seen BP’s recent television advertising, you’ve seen BP’s new Brandividual Darryl Willis. Aside from Tony Hayward, BP’s walking PR disaster CEO, Darryl Willis is the only person with a name shown by BPs own advertisements as being in charge […]

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BP’s Beyond Petroleum: Hypocrisy, or caught in the act of learning?

June 17, 2010

Tweet Some people actually believe(d) that BP was making an authentic effort to move “Beyond Petroleum”. I was quite surprised to discover this early in June, in conversation with an organizational change consultant who specializes is sustainability change. This consultant explained that, in contrast to other energy companies that he had worked with, BP was […]

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