Latest news with #diversity
Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
How the culture war is remaking advertising
During this year's Super Bowl, American viewers were given a blast from the past when food chain Carl's Jr once again rolled out an ad featuring scantily clad women, having ditched its long-time 'burgers and bikinis' approach in 2017. Bud Light, which attracted boycotts after working with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in 2023, put out a campaign featuring guys drinking beer and barbecuing big steaks for a lawn party in a stereotypical US suburban cul-de-sac. For many marketers, these sort of ads were the latest signs that big US and international brands, after years of talk about purpose and inclusion in their corporate messaging, are now playing to the Maga crowd. Some have gone even farther; restaurant chain Steak 'n Shake, for example, sponsored a recent bitcoin conference, and tweeted posts appealing to Tesla Cybertruck drivers. Its pinned post on X features US health secretary Robert F Kennedy jnr . READ MORE Yet at the same time, senior advertising bosses say campaigns featuring themes of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are now being blocked by some brand owners, who are nervous of a backlash from anti-woke campaigners and Republican politicians. 'We've had a lot of ideas that were pro-LGBTQ, or pro for the black community, pulled back on because of what's happening with the Trump administration,' says one senior advertising boss who, like many of the executives that the Financial Times spoke to, did not want to be named for fear of sparking a further negative response. The election of Donald Trump has brought added fears of legal action against DEI initiatives in the US and scrutiny by regulators and Christian faith shareholders over perceived bias in advertising. Top marketers in the US say the increased nervousness about being attacked for being 'woke' by conservatives on platforms such as Elon Musk 's X is changing how they approach spending often constrained budgets to reach consumers. Consumer behaviour is becoming more polarised. A new report from FCB, the advertising agency, and Angus Reid, the Canadian pollster, found that political leaning had a clear impact on consumer choices. FCB's Global chief executive Tyler Turnbull says that brands are now political, and it was 'really no longer viable for marketers to ignore the political perspective of their target audiences'. It is not only an American phenomenon. Flora Joll, strategy director at creative agency JOAN London, says she has seen 'campaigns get diluted across the board' in part owing to 'increasing nervousness about attracting the wrong kind of public attention'. She adds: 'The woke wars in the UK are far behind where the US have been for a while, but it is starting to bite here and a [possible] recession would only have an exacerbating effect.' It adds up to an unusually complicated time for marketers as they congregated in the south of France for the annual Cannes Lions advertising festival this week. In a poll of global chief marketing officers by the World Federation of Advertisers published this week, more than four-fifths of respondents said the operating environment was now riskier for brands. A similar number said they were taking more time to 'agree what they stand for and how they articulate positions and values externally in their marketing communications'. PR agency executives say their big workload now is advising brands on how to react to Trump's unpredictable salvos on anything from DEI to tariffs. 'Most of the time they just want to say nothing,' says a senior PR executive. The nervousness means advertising is shying away from the role it has played for decades in expanding mainstream culture to include historically less-represented people, including those marginalised by their race, sexuality or disabilities. Often this was ahead of its time; in 1994, the year a gay couple appeared in a US TV commercial for the first time, more than a dozen US states still had laws that prohibited gay men from having consensual sex. The risk for an industry that still celebrates diversity in its own ranks is that the sort of free thinking that can underpin creativity will be unduly muted at a time when the traditional industry roles are under assault from the emergence of AI. 'There's been a shift towards the more reassuring, more run of the mill. That's what's going to happen until things settle. It's very, very uncertain,' says one agency boss. 'You're seeing a lot less purpose-led ideas around DEI – not because they don't exist but because clients are getting nervous. You don't want to be targeted.' To a certain extent, advertising has become the battleground for broader culture war conflicts in the corporate world. Shareholder activists, for example, are now using their clout to influence companies to reverse their positions on matters of diversity and inclusion, following the lead of the White House. The Alliance Defending Freedom – an organisation set up to protect Christian values – has backed shareholders who have filed more than 60 resolutions for the 2025 proxy season. It claims to have helped push a number of the world's largest advertisers into enshrining 'viewpoint neutrality' when it comes to their creative work. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and its shareholder partners most recently claimed victory after IBM moved to 'viewpoint neutrality' in its advertising policies last month, adding to a list that they say includes PepsiCo and Johnson & Johnson . These companies did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement to the FT, the Alliance Defending Freedom said that IBM was the latest company to take steps to 'prevent future viewpoint-based discrimination', adding: 'No corporation should be involved in or allow for censorship at any level. We hope every company ... recommits to doing its part to protect freedom of speech and thought in our nation and throughout the world.' An antitrust lawsuit filed last year by X against Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a brand safety initiative backed by advertisers and ad agencies, as well as some companies, accused them of co-ordinating an 'illegal boycott' of the site. The initiative, which was part of the World Federation of Advertisers, has since shut down. The coalition of advertisers, including Nestlé and Shell , last month asked a federal judge in Texas to dismiss the lawsuit, saying that their decisions to suspend advertising on X were made independently and reflected concerns over the platform's content moderation practices. 'There is a genuine fear of reprisal, based on not just opinion, but actually some real fear of legal ramifications at some point down the line which people have to take seriously,' says a UK marketing head. 'Because they have a duty of care to ensure that they're not creating an illegal jeopardy by doing some of these things.' Musk – although now out of the White House – is still seen to have considerable sway over the direction taken by regulators in the US. The US Congress has held hearings looking at potential collusion among advertising firms, while the Federal Trade Commission is also looking at whether advertising and advocacy groups have colluded in working with brands to boycott platforms such as X. Turnbull says that brands now needed to consider the choice of marketing platform as a political act. 'Where you're advertising is as much of a statement now about what your brand is and what you stand for as it's ever been before. What message are you sending? Should you be on Joe Rogan or Michelle Obama's podcast?' The trend is also affecting M&A in the industry. In December, Jim Jordan, a Republican who chairs the House judiciary committee, wrote to Omnicom boss John Wren to say that they were looking at the takeover of rival Interpublic in relation to their work with Global Alliance for Responsible Media, adding that the proposed merger raises potential anticompetitive concerns. Even if there is yet to be any tangible impact from these threats, the combination of lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny has had a chilling effect on brands and DEI, ad bosses say. Richard Exon, co-founder of independent creative advertising agency Joint, says that commitment to DEI 'has recently become a politicised position' in the US. Larger businesses were facing the challenge of achieving broad appeal in a highly polarised media landscape, he adds. 'It's not surprising if these larger businesses proceed more cautiously on social justice issues.' Some marketers say they are being more closely monitored by their boards about delivery, with the focus now on effectiveness of campaigns that can yield tangible sales. Brands are often working with tightened budgets, says one UK advertising boss, meaning that 'anything unrelated to pure growth, including purpose, could be seen as a distraction and therefore harder to gain traction within a business'. But the move in the cultural landscape has also shifted marketing budgets, with organisers of Pride marches and other LGBT+ events saying that there has been a retreat from corporate sponsors this year in the US and the UK. In New York, a number of sponsors such as Mastercard did not renew their top-tier corporate sponsorships of Pride. Mastercard said that, this year, it was 'proudly participating in the NYC Pride March and related events with a strong employee-led presence and a community engagement programme'. [ A quarter of major US corporate backers pull out of Dublin Pride over Trump fears Opens in new window ] Polly Shute, founder of Out & Wild, the UK's largest LGBT+ festival and former board member of Pride in London, says that corporate sponsors have been less keen to back events. Plymouth and Liverpool have both pulled their Pride march events – the latter blaming 'significant financial and organisational challenges' at a time of rising costs. Shute says that, in 2017, Pride 'was turning brands away as they did not meet criteria' but 'it's very different now'. She notes that some brands and companies had stopped changing their logos to Pride colours on social media such as LinkedIn. In the UK, these include firms that have extensive operations in the US such as WPP, Linklaters and Freshfields. Linklaters said its 'commitment remains unchanged. We are proud to be celebrating Pride at Linklaters ... with events and activities taking place across our global offices'. Freshfields has used other Pride branding this year, including a Pride banner across its LinkedIn page. Shute says that demand for influencers to be used in external marketing, and for speakers for internal corporate events, has also been more muted this year. 'It used to be that the social media was really positive but now the reaction has scared off sponsorship as they don't want to be associated with the negativity.' However, dog treats company BarkBox showed there are dangers in shifting positions. Matt Meeker, the group's chief executive, was forced to apologise after a leaked Slack message suggested the company would pause paid advertising for its Pride kit, with the 'current climate' making such promotions 'feel like a political statement'. Target, the US retailer, has also been boycotted by some customers since February owing to its decision to scale back DEI initiatives. 'Target is another example recently where a changed policy has resulted in people voting with their wallets and from a purchase perspective,' says FCB's Turnbull. The People's Union USA, a grassroots consumer-led group, has organised 'economic blackouts' against other companies such as Amazon, Walmart and General Mills. [ Meta introduces advertising to WhatsApp in push for new revenues Opens in new window ] 'This blackout isn't symbolic. It's strategic. We are the economy. We are the machine they profit off of. And it's time to show them what happens when the machine stops,' it says. These shifting cultural sands – and the now ever present risk of alienating customers on any side of a political or societal divide – means that it is in brands' interest to play it safe, according to marketers. 'People are just leaning back, particularly our big clients,' says one ad boss. 'There's just less of a focus on purposeful, super-targeted work right now.' Some point to a focus on humour or universal themes as risk-free ways to get to the biggest audiences. The shift is particularly sensitive at the Cannes Lions festival, which for several years was seen by some as having moved potentially too far towards social issues in the sorts of advertising work it celebrated and rewarded. In Cannes, much of the talk was about how AI would replace a lot of the work carried out by creative teams, resulting in unoriginal and bland advertising campaigns, exacerbating the shift to safety-first approaches. But some are hopeful that the industry can withstand external pressures, finding new and clever ways to reach audiences irrespective of political allegiances. And they point out that Cannes Lions still has an award for work that addresses inequality and prejudice by representing and empowering marginalised communities. 'Purpose always has a place,' says Karen Martin, boss of BBH and president of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. 'Cannes may have become too purposeful for a while, but getting different creative voices in the room, and making sure you are addressing all audiences, will always be the centre of what we do.' – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Anti-DEI King Pete Hegseth Has Upsetting Plan for Juneteenth
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants the Pentagon to tone any commemoration of Juneteenth way, way down, in keeping with his anti-diversity crusade. Hegseth's office requested the Department of Defense take 'a passive approach to Juneteenth messaging,' according to an email obtained by Rolling Stone. The Pentagon's office of the chief of public affairs also said in the email it won't publish Juneteenth-related material online on Thursday. Juneteenth marks the official last day of slavery in the United States. After the Civil War ended, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, on June 19, 1865 to free the last enslaved people in the country. President Joe Biden signed a law making Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021. The bill passed with widespread bipartisan support in the House and a unanimous vote in the Senate. The White House did not respond to Rolling Stone's request for comment about Hegseth's directive. A Pentagon official said the DOD 'may engage in the following activities, subject to applicable department guidance: holiday celebrations that build camaraderie and esprit de corps; outreach events (e.g., recruiting engagements with all-male, all-female, or minority-serving academic institutions) where doing so directly supports DoD's mission; and recognition of historical events and notable figures where such recognition informs strategic thinking, reinforces our unity, and promotes meritocracy and accountability.' It's a little surprising that Hegseth didn't choose to do away with marking Juneteenth altogether. Since being sworn in, the defense secretary has repeatedly stated that 'DEI is dead' at the Pentagon. Hegseth has banned the DOD from marking identity months such as Black History Month, Women's History Month, Asian American and Pacific Highlander Heritage Month, and Pride Month. In February, the Pentagon was directed to scrub its website of all 'news and feature articles, photos, and videos that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.' The DOD removed web pages about the Tuskegee Airmen, the WWII accomplishments of Jackie Robinson, and the Navajo Code Talkers, among others—although these were restored after widespread scrutiny. Hegseth has also insisted on changing the names of military bases that were once named after Confederate figures. The bases were renamed following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, and Hegseth is now working to revert the base names back to the pro-slavery ones.
CNN
16 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
5 things to know for June 19: Israel-Iran, Elected officials detained, Suicide hotline, Heat dome, Jewelry heist
Happy Juneteenth! Although the Trump administration has attacked diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, Juneteenth remains a federal holiday. As such, many Americans will have the day off to commemorate the end of slavery in the US. Check out this list of what will be open and closed. Here's what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. Get '5 Things' in your inbox If your day doesn't start until you're up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to your new favorite morning fix. Sign up here for the '5 Things' newsletter. One week after Israel's unprecedented attack on Iran, the two countries continue to trade strikes. In Israel, Iran's latest wave of missiles damaged a hospital in the southern city of Beer Sheva as well as several high-rise buildings in Ramat Gan, just east of Tel Aviv. At least 65 people were injured, Israel's emergency services said. Iran's state news agency reported that the 'principal target' of the missile strike that damaged the Israeli hospital was a nearby technology park used by the Israel Defense Forces. In Iran, 40 Israeli fighter jets struck the 'inactive' Arak nuclear facility about 155 miles southwest of Tehran during a series of overnight raids. The facility was reportedly not seriously damaged. In the skies above both countries, civilians who remained above ground could see anti-aircraft fire intercepting even more missile attacks. In recent months, at least five elected officials have been arrested or confronted by police for protesting President Trump's sweeping deportation efforts. New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested at Manhattan's immigration court on Tuesday. Sen. Alex Padilla, California's first Latino elected to the Senate, was forcefully removed from a news conference in Los Angeles last week and handcuffed on the ground after attempting to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested for attempting to join three members of New Jersey's congressional delegation inside an immigration detention facility on May 9. Rep. LaMonica McIver was indicted last week on federal charges alleging she interfered with immigration officers outside the same detention center. And Milwaukee judge Hannah Dugan was arrested in April for allegedly helping a defendant evade immigration officials. The Trump administration plans to end the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline's specialized services for LGBTQ+ youth. According to the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, anyone who reaches out to the 988 Lifeline will still receive help, but the 'Press 3 option,' which connected callers to crisis counselors trained to work with LGBTQ+ youth and adults under 25, will no longer be available. Since the specialized service launched in 2022, nearly 1.3 million callers have reached out for assistance. The change was announced on the same day the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. Roughly half of US states have bans similar to Tennessee's. Transgender advocates framed the ruling as a 'devastating loss.' A heat dome is expected to send temperatures soaring to record-breaking levels over the weekend and into next week. According to the National Weather Service, more than 15 million people from Washington, DC, to Florida are under a level 3 of 4 heat risk today. Many places will experience highs in the low- to mid-90s. When factoring in the humidity, it will feel even hotter and stickier. Temperatures are also forecast to climb across parts of the Northeast and central US in advance of next week's intense heat dome. That dome is forecast to expand across the central and eastern US, and high temperatures are predicted to rise at least 15 degrees above normal. It could feel as hot as 110 degrees, especially in the Mid-Atlantic region. If you're going to be under the dome, take care. Heat remains the deadliest form of extreme weather in the US, contributing to more than 800 deaths annually since 1999. Federal theft and conspiracy charges have been announced against seven people who were allegedly involved in an operation prosecutors described as 'the largest jewelry heist in US history.' A newly-unsealed federal grand jury indictment said the crew of serial thieves spotted a Brinks tractor-trailer leaving a jewelry show in San Mateo, California, on July 10, 2022. The suspects allegedly followed the truck south for nearly 300 miles, and when the driver pulled into a truck stop, they broke in and stole 24 bags filled with jewelry, gold, Rolex watches and thousands of loose diamonds. Agents recovered some of the loot, which was worth about $100 million, while executing a search warrant on Monday. 'Extremely dangerous' hurricane nears southern MexicoHurricane Erick, which intensified overnight to a Category 4 storm, is expected to make landfall on Mexico's southern coast this morning. Forecasters said the storm could bring destructive winds, flash floods and a dangerous storm surge to the region. A $10 billion basketball dealIn what is believed to be the most lucrative deal for a professional sports team, the Buss family has reportedly agreed to sell majority ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers to LA Dodgers owner Mark Walter. Red-flagged fanA man accused of stalking tennis player Emma Raducanu has been blocked from obtaining tickets to Wimbledon. At previous events, he has allegedly exhibited 'fixated behavior' toward the 22-year-old US Open champion. Check your fridgeReady-to-eat chicken fettuccine Alfredo meals have been recalled after a listeria outbreak sickened people in 13 states. The meals were sold at Walmart and Kroger stores nationwide. Mary Todd Lincoln castJinkx Monsoon, who won 'RuPaul's Drag Race' and 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars,' will take over the lead role in the Broadway show, 'Oh, Mary!' Earlier this month, Cole Escola won the Tony for best lead actor in a play for the role. Life with ALSIn his first interview since announcing he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, actor Eric Dane ('Grey's Anatomy,' 'Euphoria') revealed how the illness is progressing. 2034That's the year Social Security will reportedly not be able to pay full monthly benefits to tens of millions of retirees and people with disabilities if Congress doesn't act now. 'It's difficult for me to process just how much you've all experienced in your young lives. I feel your anxiety and your fears about the world around you and it's heartbreaking to me.' — Actor/comedian Steve Carell, during his commencement speech at Northwestern University. Check your local forecast here>>> A heated exchange Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth clashed with Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin on the Senate Armed Services Committee this week over the decision to deploy American troops to US cities to deal with anti-ICE protests.
The Guardian
18 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Queensland to repeal diversity quotas for Brisbane Olympics board
The Queensland government plans to repeal a requirement that half the board overseeing the organising of the Brisbane Olympics be women and at least one member Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. The change to the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) board is contained in an obscure clause in broad-ranging legislation sponsored by the deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie, in May. It is not mentioned in either its explanatory speech or explanatory notes. According to a written briefing by the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning, made during consideration by a parliamentary committee, the bill would 'enhance efficiency and effectiveness' by 'removing certain requirements for the appointment of OCOG board directors'. That includes 'that 50% of nominated directors be women' and 'that at least one of the independent directors is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander'. The bill has yet to pass parliament but is certain to do so if all government members vote for it. Renee Carr, the executive director of Fair Agenda, said 'women should be an equal part of making the critical decisions that shape its legacy'. 'There's been important progress in recognising women's contribution to sport – as athletes, coaches, and in leadership. We should be leaning into what's possible, not going backwards,' she said. 'Hosting an event of this scale will impact Queensland's economy, infrastructure and tourism. Women's voices and expertise must be an equal part of planning a games that delivers for the whole community.' The executive director of QUT's Carumba Institute, Prof Chelsea Watego, said the plan to remove the requirement was an 'appalling decision'. She said the Sydney Olympics was able to make decisions with a board that included an Indigenous representative, Lowitja O'Donoghue, so there was no case that excluding them would make it more efficient. 'It just tells you how far backwards Queensland has gone under an LNP government,' she said. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Watego said that Brisbane, Queensland and Australia would be on the international stage. 'We're under a microscope, and we have to think very seriously about what this tells the world about who we are as a nation, who we are as a state, and the location of Indigenous peoples and women in relation to that.' Minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tim Mander said: 'The Crisafulli government has accepted the recommendation of the independent 100 Day Review of the Games to streamline governance arrangements. 'The act is currently before the state development, infrastructure and works committee.' The Planning (Social Impact and Community Benefit) and Other Legislation Amendment bill 2025 has a wide-ranging scope, and more than 700 individuals and groups made a submission during a parliamentary inquiry process. Among other changes, the bill will reduce the size of the OCOG board from 24 to 15. It also amends regulation of renewables projects to make them easier for opponents to challenge in court and exempts Olympic venues from legal challenge. The OCOG board is appointed by multiple different agencies separate from the state government, such as the federal sports minister and the president of the Australian Olympic Committee. A legal provision will still apply requiring consideration of the state government's policy on gender equity on boards. The policy sets a non-binding target for gender equity, and does not cover Indigenous representation. The Brisbane Olympics will be held from 23 July to 8 August 2032, with the Paralympics running from 24 August to 5 September. Queensland has never held an Olympics but has hosted the Commonwealth Games, most recently in 2018. A binding provision that the 2032 games be 'climate positive' has also been reportedly removed from the Olympic host contract. It will now aim 'at removing more carbon from the atmosphere than what the Games project emits'.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
How the US men's national team values diversity, even in the Trump era
Los Angeles will be in the spotlight during the 2026 World Cup. It's where the US men's national team will begin their World Cup campaign, and it's where they'll wrap up the group stage. It's a city in the news lately due to the Trump administration's deployment of Ice and the national guard, but it's also a metro area synonymous with diversity. This US men's national team, more than ever, reflects that diversity. 'It's not that there's a record or anything of how many minorities have been on the national team before, but I feel like this has been the most diverse generation of national team,' said center back Chris Richards, who is poised to be a leader along the backline for the US next year. Advertisement Related: Christian Pulisic says questioning his commitment to US is 'way out of line' During most periods of the USMNT's modern history, Richards saying this would be a political non-factor. But today, as the Trump administration openly discourages talk of diversity in public life, it means something. Against the backdrop of polarization at home and mounting pressure to make a deep run at the World Cup, a team mostly based abroad has been careful about commenting on social and political issues in the United States. Diversity, though, remains foundational. 'When we had Gregg [Berhalter] as the coach, and we had to pick our anchors for our team, and we talked about picking 'diverse' as one of those anchors, we started to look around the room, and you really start to realize how every single person on our team comes from such a completely different background,' said midfielder Tyler Adams, who captained the US at the 2022 World Cup. 'It was the first time I started to realize, 'Wow, we just have a very, very diverse team.'' Advertisement Adams and others mean 'diversity' in the truest sense of the word: Age, race, culture, birthplace; it is seemingly all there, in one roster. 'This team is a microcosm of what the United States is,' said Tim Ream, who at 37 is the oldest player by far on an otherwise young and mid-career team. 'It's representative of the entire country. So many backgrounds, different cultures, different ways of doing things, different beliefs, and that's OK, and we all get along just fine.' Adams, who is black, wasn't really thinking about diversity as a kid growing up in Wappingers Falls, New York. He's biracial, raised by his mother (who is white) and eventually his stepfather (who is also white) along with his three stepbrothers, who he refers to as his father and brothers. Looking back, Adams said he had a lot of black friends and a reasonably diverse school, but his youth soccer environment was different. 'A lot of white kids play soccer in the neighborhoods I grew up in,' said Adams, who noted that youth national teams provided an early, eye-opening experience. Advertisement 'A lot of the kids that were getting called in from California obviously have a Latin [American] background. And right away you could tell how diverse just America in general is,' he said. 'It was a really cool thing. You become friends with people that on the west coast that you may have never met through the game, and you start to understand a little bit of the culture and why they fall in love with the game, why you fall in love with the game, and how your geography kind of dictates that.' St Louis, the New York area, and California are historic hotbeds of soccer in the US. Former US defender and notoriously opinionated pundit Alexi Lalas recently reiterated his view that the men's national team could be better served by being more 'exclusive' and concentrating player development resources on such hotbeds. But to do so would be to exclude Birmingham, Alabama – Richards' home town. The Crystal Palace defender says he was typically the only black player on his team growing up before he joined the FC Dallas academy. During 2022 World Cup qualifying, he noticed how much the national team had changed. Related: For the USMNT, a successful summer is harder than ever to define Advertisement 'I remember at one point it was Antonee Robinson, Mark McKenzie, myself, and Sergiño Dest, and I was like, 'Oh, this is like an all black back line,'' he said. 'Zack Steffen was in goal … Weston [McKennie] was playing in the midfield, we had Timothy Weah on the wing, Yunus [Musah] was playing. So that's eight starters right there that are black, and we were just like, 'This is kind of crazy.' Me personally growing up, I never saw it. I know Yunus probably did because he grew up in London, but for me, it was really rare. I never experienced something like that until playing with the national team.' Richards didn't really think about the diversity of the national team when he was younger. Today, hesaid it gives inspiration to his little brother, and his best friend. 'His dad was like, 'You have no idea how big this is, not just for kids in Birmingham, but kids of color in Birmingham,' Richards said. 'It's something that they never had seen on TV and something that they never really aspired [to] because they'd never seen it before.' When it comes to political expression, November 2020 was a turning point for the US men's national team. After the Covid-19 pandemic had precluded the full squad from convening for a year, much of its emerging, European-based talent was on display in a 0-0 draw against Wales. So too was the team's diversity: ten out of the 11 starters were black or Hispanic, with four born and raised abroad. Advertisement Their participation in the social justice movement was also beginning to emerge. In their first game since the murder of George Floyd and ensuing protests that prompted messages of social justice solidarity throughout the sports world, the players and coaches wore jackets emblazoned with the words 'Be The Change' across the front. On the back, they had the space to send their own personal message. 'Whether you supported what was going on or not, it was the time to stand with your principles,' Richards said. 'So some people put different messages on the back of their jackets, and whether it was a Black Lives Matter quote, whether it was just an equal rights thing, we all have something that we stand for.' Eighteen months later, under the banner of the 'Be The Change,' the team sent a very direct message to Congress regarding gun legislation and wore orange armbands in a friendly against Uruguay to raise awareness. Related: Pochettino turns to an unlikely savior for USMNT's struggles: MLS Advertisement Weighing in on a social or political issue like this is the product of extensive dialogue and consensus, but with the spotlight on soccer in the US shining brighter and overlapping more with politics, it will be more challenging for American players to keep their distance or calibrate their response. On Wednesday, Weah and McKennie were among the members of Juventus invited to the Oval Office on the eve of their Club World Cup opener in Washington DC (Weah later told reporters that he had no choice but to go). With McKennie, Weah and others as a backdrop, Trump answered all sorts of questions from the press. At one point, he turned to them to ask if a woman could play for Juventus – a reference to the culture war surrounding the battle over transgender rights. None of the visitors took the bait. 'I was kind of like, I just want to play football,' said Weah, whose father is the former president of Liberia and Ballon D'or winner. Ream and Adams both underlined that the US team isn't having deep discussions about politics at the dinner table during their limited time together. If commentary is to come from the team, they said, it can't be counter-productive, engendering awkwardness or discord. 'If I'm going to say something, I'm going to say something because I feel like it can bring people together and bring people closer,' Ream said. Advertisement And while athletes today have their own megaphone at their fingertips, sharing their opinion or engaging with others on social media carries plenty of risk. 'It's gonna get misconstrued one way or another so there's no point,' Adams said. Adams also stressed that ultimately, technology can only compensate so much for physically being on the other side of the Atlantic, where he and other players spend most of their time during the club season. There's a disconnect from the reality back home that is increasingly difficult to digest. 'It's an interesting time we're living in,' he said. 'A lot of decisions that are made almost seem like they just happened in a blink of an eye. It's hard to fathom sometimes exactly what's happening and have a complete understanding.' Advertisement The US men's national team's naming of diversity as one of its pillars didn't seem out of the ordinary in 2020. Now, five years later, the backlash to diversity, equity and inclusion, accelerated by a second Trump administration, has changed the landscape. It is intertwined with the administration's immigration policy, built by Trump's deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. To him and others in the administration, the concept of diversity as a strength on its own is a political statement – the very thing the team tries to avoid without full buy-in and a lot of thought and collaboration among the group. 'Within the last few years, particularly the last year, it's been a very tough time for the country. With change, with the new president, with things like that,' Richards said. 'I felt like we were moving forward with certain things, with uplifting minorities. And I feel like in the last few months, it's felt like it's gone backwards.' At the moment, the US appreciate their diversity but don't feel the need to celebrate it publicly. In camp they're curious to learn about each other's lives, and let their performances elicit pride in their identity. 'When you play well, you're like, 'Look at that team. Look how diverse.' You take so many positives away from what our team stands for,' Adams said. 'So that's important as well, and we'll get back to that way, because that's what makes us great.'
