Red Stripe rallies stakeholder support to protect brand promoters

RED STRIPE hosted a summit yesterday with stakeholders from the Government, business and academia to build support for a shared policy to provide safe working environments for brand promoters.

Considered de facto brand ambassadors who interact with customers and clients to promote the brands they represent; brand promoters have played a greater role in the company’s marketing and advertising activities. Still, the promoters, mostly women, are often subject to sexual harassment and work under unsafe conditions. While Red Stripe has established its own Brand Promoter Policy, the company is also seeking industry-wide action and standards.

“We believe promoting our brands should be an attractive professional step for both men and women and as such we want to give more Brand Promoters the opportunity to develop their careers and progress into other roles within our company. We also want to build more gender diverse teams of Brand Promoters over time that better reflect the broad diversity of our business. We recognise that both these aspirations will take some time to achieve but we are committed to making them happen. We know we can’t do it alone and so with your support we will start to monitor compliance; working together to improve the working conditions of more people working not just in our industry but in workplaces all across Jamaica,” said Red Stripe Head of Corporate Affairs, Dianne Ashton-Smith, who shared the company’s policy with guests which included representatives from the Government, the University of the West Indies, women support groups and other businesses that use brand promoters.

Contributed The Red Stripe Stand Up Summit held at the Marriott Hotel saw powerful women from various areas of Jamaican society coming together to discuss Red Stripe’s newly created brand promoter policy. The policy was created in an effort to ensure a safer working environment in the protection of Brand Promoters’ human rights. From left to right: The Academy of Bartending, Spirits & Wines, Managing Director, Debbiann Spence-Minott, Red Stripe Head of Corporate Relations, Dianne Ashton-Smith, Trade Winds Citrus Head of Marketing, Marsha Lumley and We Inspire Women Boss, Cortia Bingham McKenzie. Red Stripe hosted women from across Academia, business and Government for a meeting to discuss their recently launched brand promoter policy.