Goodby Silverstein’s Bonnie Wan on fighting anti-Asian hate with creativity

Ad Age is marking Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2023 with our Honoring Creative Excellence package. (Read the introduction here.) Today, our guest editor Bonnie Wan, partner and head of brand strategy at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, writes about two recent efforts from advertising creatives that fought against the rise in anti-Asian hate. Three years ago, the pandemic-fueled anti-Asian violence prompted me to shift how I show up as a leader and use my voice to shine light on others. So I dedicate this space to celebrating AAPI women innovators who harnessed creativity to combat injustice during a time of unprecedented adversity. Ad Age Creativity Bookmark our section covering the best in brand creativity every day Read more here Feb. 3, 2020—A 61-year-old Asian man in San Francisco is attacked by teenagers accusing him of spreading the coronavirus. March 14, 2020—A young Asian family is stabbed in a Texas Sam’s Club by a man who believed they were spreading the coronavirus. April 2020—GS&P Associate Creative Director Maria Lee’s mother and brother are verbally attacked in their own neighborhoods. Her brother, a doctor, had just finished a 24-hour shift treating COVID-19 patients. Maria lay in bed, tears of anger streaming down her face. It wasn’t just the coronavirus threatening lives. It was also the fear-fueled racism against Asians in America. Enduring everyday racism is a norm for millions of AAPIs. It’s woven into the fabric of our existence. It shows itself through callous insults, outright discrimination and social stereotypes that cause many to be overlooked and underestimated—in school, sports, meetings and boardrooms. In 2020, a deeper, darker shade of aggression was unleashed that still stirs around us. When our then-POTUS placed a nationality on the virus, hate speech on Twitter spiked by 900% and offline attacks on Asians accelerated across the country. Yet the hate gave rise to something else. A team at GS&P led by Maria, strategist Darien Ahn and technologist Shan Jin zeroed in on a problem. No one knew how to respond to the rapidly intensifying online hatred fueling offline violence. People stayed silent out of disbelief, because they were overwhelmed and because they feared retaliation. Even the team experienced the paralysis firsthand. Extending GS&P’s legacy of leveraging innovation to combat social injustice, the team built and disseminated a Twitter bot designed to respond to tweets tagged with racist hashtags. @Respond2Racism was initially banned by Twitter’s policy against bots, but the bot ultimately drove discussions and reconsideration for bots designed for good. It went on to become one of Fast Company’s World-Changing Ideas. March 16, 2021—A gunman kills eight people, including six Asian women, in Atlanta. That night, Wieden+Kennedy’s Mimi Munoz sent an all-agency email calling for support of the AAPI community. The outpouring of responses re-energized her determination to build on the momentum of W+K’s film “Call It COVID-19.” It spurred Mimi and Titania Tran to create “The Myth,” a film that tackles false, homogenized images of Asians in America—myths that dismiss the challenges faced by distinct Asian communities, pitting them against each other while denying them access to critically needed programs and opportunities. By combining storytelling, design and technology to combat racism, @Respond2Racism and “The Myth” pushed these creators from helpless to heroic. Maria and Mimi teach us that even small actions have significant impact. May their moxie move more AAPI creators to speak out, shatter stereotypes, and change damaging and dangerous narratives for good. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here

Goodby Silverstein’s Bonnie Wan on fighting anti-Asian hate with creativity

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