LL Cool J Works with Procter & Gamble to Help Widen The Screen for Underrepresented creators
Hip-Hop gives a voice to the voiceless by providing a global platform for artists and creators. At Rock The Bells, we are passionate in our pursuit of elevating and honoring this timeless culture. Most recently, we partnered with P&G brands Gillette and My Black is Beautiful at the sold-out Rock The Bells Festival, celebrating the 49th anniversary of Hip-Hop with breakthrough performances, production, and on-site experiences. Our partnership with P&G allows us to tell authentic stories and create impactful moments that lift the powerful voices in Hip-Hop.
Words alone won’t create change. Sustained action and investment are necessary to address the systemic bias and inequality in advertising and media. Widen The Screen is an expansive content creation, talent development, and partnership platform that celebrates creativity and enables Black creators to share the full richness of the Black experience. Only when we Widen The Screen to Widen Our View can we all broaden the spectrum of the images we see, the voices we hear, the stories we tell, and the people we understand. Fully.
This is how P&G is showing up for Black creators––both behind the camera and on the screen. Join us to seek, share, and expect more Black stories.
A TALE OF TWO EXTREMES
Black stories are too often portrayed as one extreme––either struggle or triumph. While those stories exist, they do not represent the full Black experience. What about the inside jokes and hard conversations, the honest gestures, and creative acts of rebellion? To understand the Black experience, we must showcase the whole truth.
Black Struggle
Black Triumph
AN EXPRESSION OF EVERYDAY BLACK LIFE
We are elevating a spectrum of Black voices to share all the moments that make up the Black experience. Black obstacles, joy, ambition, heartbreak, and love also encompass Black life––and should be expressed.
ADJUST OUR PERSONAL LENS
To move forward, we must move past what is predictable. We must widen our view and shift our perspectives to change our beliefs, understanding, and expectations about Black life.
EPISODE 1
Hear from the cast and crew behind the Widen The Screen film about the impact and importance of authentic Black stories on screen.
THE PROBLEM IS CLEAR
In 2018, P&G, Queen Latifah, Flavor Unit Entertainment, and Tribeca Studios launched the Queen Collective, a mentoring and talent development program designed to give women filmmakers of color a platform to share important stories from their unique perspective. Now in its fourth year, the Queen Collective is enabling more female directors and other creatives than ever before to produce their original documentaries and scripted shorts, sharing their perspective through film.
THESE HANDS
This film is a collaboration between P&G and UNINTERRUPTED, an athlete empowerment brand on a mission to empower greatness in every individual. These Hands and the associated community impact programs are a commitment to Black boys––a promise to create broader opportunities and remove the systemic barriers along the path.
8:46 FILMS
In recognition of the many lives lost, we want to reclaim the time stolen from Black communities to share life-affirming stories of joy, love, and resilience. P&G teamed up with SATURDAY MORNING, Tribeca Studios, and multiple Black storytellers to create scripted stories told in 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
SPARK CONVERSATIONS
We are continuing to use our voice in advertising to build understanding and inspire action to combat bias and racism. P&G created campaigns such as The Talk (2017), The Look (2019), #TalkAboutBias (2020), Circumstances (2020), and The Choice (2020) that we hope will continue to fuel fruitful conversations as we all work toward a better world. For everyone.
INCREASE INVESTMENTS
In two years, P&G has nearly doubled spending in Black-owned media, and we will double again and again, with the intent of consistently being the leading spender and to invest in making the Black-owned media market bigger. But we’re going beyond increased media budgets to address the systemic issue that holds investment back: creating enough relevant programming to enable Black-owned media companies to build audiences and provide sufficient ad inventory to attract advertiser budgets.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE PIPELINE
We are increasing diversity of storytelling and the pipeline of creators by providing training, mentorships, distribution, and opportunities to build their project portfolios. We are supporting the LAGRANT Foundation and actively working with BLAC, the Marcus Graham Project, The ONE Club’s ONE School, and others to help a new generation of Black creatives excel in the industry.
SUPPORT BLACK TALENT
We are supporting the growth and development of talent already in the industry, but we know we cannot do it alone. We are working closely with P&G’s business partners and creative agencies who share this commitment. We are all increasing the diversity of people working on our business through recruiting, career development, training opportunities, and employment. We utilize resources such as ADCOLOR, the Alliance for Inclusive Multicultural Marketing (AIMM), and CannesCan: Diversity Collective to identify and remove barriers and add more Black-owned agencies and media companies to P&G’s roster.
OUR BRANDS
STEP UP
Many P&G brands are bringing the Widen The Screen mission to life across our business. For example, P&G’s My Black is Beautiful leveraged Black creative talent to direct films and tell stories for #HowWe, a series of films dedicated to ending systemic racism.
In partnership with Procter & Gamble’s “Widen The Screen” initiative, Old Spice committed to sharing the full richness of the Black experience with our popular ongoing “Men Have Skin Too” campaign. It started behind the scenes, building a team of Black marketing leads, creatives, and directors to spearhead the work… and continued in front of the camera with a full cast of Black talent.
Three years ago, Old Spice relaunched the Fresher collection: a men’s personal care line made with real ingredients that Black consumers look for in their products—like shea butter—and all the moisturizing benefits of women's products. This led to the insight that Old Spice's products are SO good for your skin, women will want to use them. And thus the “Men Have Skin Too" campaign was born.
SOME OF OUR BLACK-OWNED PARTNERS
MEDIA CENTER
Your resource hub for press and partner media content and materials like logos, photos, press releases, and more.
TAKE ACTION
Our work in facing systemic racism is never done. We encourage you to learn more about our other efforts as we stand up for equality and create a better world for us all.