Putting on a guise of diversity, progressivism,  and “woke” culture can be a profitable marketing strategy for many organizations (and individuals). We see this in the flood of pride-themed merchandise and company logos every June. Of course,  there are instances where tone-deaf attempts at this marketing strategy can go awry even for the most established organizations.  

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a YouTube channel that boasts just under 60  thousand subscribers. They have a few different running series including “Humans of CIA” and “The Debrief.” The particular video sparked controversy this past spring as part of their “Humans of CIA” video series. It has nearly 389 thousand views and 24 thousand dislikes (compared against 1.3 thousand likes). The “Humans of CIA” videos feature individuals employed at the CIA discussing, in vague terms, what their jobs are, how they got the jobs, and what their jobs mean to them. The video, posted on March 25, 2021, features a  woman in her mid-thirties discussing how her career at the CIA has empowered her to grow as a person, as a mom, and in her work.  The video is tagged with  #CIA, #KnowYourValue, and #WomenInIntel. 

So, what is it about this video that got people riled up? Well, from my introduction (and from some of those tags), you can probably guess where this is going. While some people did defend the video, many individuals from a variety of political backgrounds criticized the “woke” message of the ad.  

One of the defining quotes that many critics pulled out from the two-and-a-half-minute-long video was, “I am a woman of color. I am a mom. I am a cis-gender millennial who’s been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder.  I am intersectional. But my existence is not a box-checking exercise.”  

More conservative voices tended to criticize the video for catering to the “liberal agenda” at the expense of compromising the strength and mission of the CIA.  

More liberal voices tended to criticize the video for leveraging a mask of faux diversity to cover up the CIA’s numerous sins as an organization.  

       And all parties involved in the discussion, even some of those defending he ad, seemed to think that the tone of the video was somewhat cringy.  

Well executed or not, this whole thing is all just a marketing tactic.  If social pressures can make organizations feel that they need to change their practices in order to become better, then that is great. However, often this pressure doesn’t actually promote change in behavior and instead just changes the words and images used in order to push products,  services, or ideas onto the largest number of people.  

It is really the attempt to seem “relatable” and genuine that pushes what would otherwise be a fairly standard CIA recruitment ad into the realm of cringe.  

While, of course,  I cannot attest to the genuineness, or lack thereof, expressed by the woman featured in the video, I can certainly say that the presence of her words in the ad holds no other purpose than an attempt to recruit people and to improve the CIA’s image with the public.  

On a small scale, I think that this can be seen not only in organizations but also in individuals. People will change their language to be more inclusive but not their actions.  

I have experienced this personally from people in my life who claim to be LGBTQ+ allies, yet refuse to speak up when others use hateful language or even actively support movements that are harmful to the LGBTQ+ community.  

This is why so many people become fed up with “woke” culture; we want genuinely inclusive policies and problem-solving from individuals,  corporations, and government organizations, not marketing tactics.