56 Black Men: ‘I am not my stereotype’

Clear Channel UK welcomed a large audience to their space at Cannes Lions on 18 June for a special Q&A session with Cephas Williams, founder of the 56 Black Men movement, which is aiming to challenge the perceptions of black men in the media. Cephas was introduced by Caroline Forbes, Specialist Partner at Clear Channel UK who spoke of the “empowerment, pride and inspiration” that she experienced when she first encountered 56 Black Men and this had motivated her to ensure Clear Channel’s corporate support for the project. Most prominently the campaign’s images featured across its out of home advertising sites throughout April 2019.

56 Black Men features portraits of black men wearing a hoodie and fixing the viewer’s gaze directly – see an image of Cephas from the campaign left. It is designed to challenge the often negative portrayals of young black men society wearing similar clothing in the media. The subjects of the portraits range from politicians, directors and teachers to architects (Cephas himself studied architecture). The message of the image is short and clear – black males are saying: “I am not my stereotype”.

Cephas explained that the title 56 Black Men came from a statistic on Sky News in 2018 that 56% of murder victims are black. And that with this statistic, despite being portrayed often as the cause of crime in the media, young black men are more frequently the victim of crime than the perpetrator. Further to this, Cephas’ background in architecture led him originally to create Drummer Boy Studios, the aim of which is to create studio space for the community in disused retail space, starting in Peckham, South London. The opposition he encountered from authorities as he tried to achieve his aim to help his community awakened in him a realisation that it was the negative stereotype of the young black male that inhibited him on his quest.

He came up with the idea for the 56 Black Mem campaign and then recruited friends and others to pose for the images. But it was the out-of-home campaign and the power of advertising that helped spread the word and bring 56 Black Men into the public consciousness. “The public engaged with the campaign and could really see their own reality and truth in these images”. Cephas went onto explain how his background in architecture helped him recognise advertising and the out-of-home industry’s special role in the campaign. “The built environment and the public realm is very important to me and the images’ locations enabled people to really have a conversation with the campaign”. The reaction from the community was profound with large interaction and support across social platforms.

56 Black Men has since been featured on the BBC, The Guardian and on Sky News and this coverage is important to Cephas as the media is often the forum where negative stereotypes are often formed and found: “Change the influencer and you change the perception”, Cephas commented.

So, why come to Cannes Lions 2019 and what lies ahead for 56 Black Men? Cephas said that he has chosen to come to Cannes to form partnerships with the media and advertising around the way they can work together to change the narrative surrounding black men and also to raise funds to support the campaign. “We need to work with business to bring about change” and “moments like Cannes Lions are progressive and we can all work together towards a common goal”. For Cephas that goal is real inclusion for black men. He shared a comment that he though summed up his mission, the 56 Black Men campaign, and the difference between simple diversity and true inclusion: “Diversity is inviting someone to the party, inclusion is inviting them to dance”.