What's unstereotypical? Having a major CPG company create a social initiative for the greater good, not just as a campaign for greater sales. "We don't view diversity and inclusion as a competitive advantage," says Aline Santos, Global Executive Vice President of Marketing and Head of Diversity and Inclusion for Unilever. "There are many other ways we can distinguish ourselves." The company has also distinguished itself as a role model in creating awareness for the imperative around diversity and inclusion. It launched the #Unstereotype initiative back in 2016 to move its advertising away from outdated stereotypical portrayals of people to more positive and progressive ones. This year in June, together with UN women co-convened the inaugural session of the #Unstereotype Alliance, an industry wide initiative with 24 other leading organizations to combat and eradicate stereotypes in advertising globally, creating impact at scale. Santos is eager for its success. "Initiatives like #Unstereotype should be shared widely because we need to learn fast if our industry is going to advance best practices and learnings," she advises.
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