The Conscious Marketer: Working to end Data Discrimination

Recently, it has become apparent to the public that many of us in the marketing, data, AI and advertising fields have been growing and profiting off of racial divides. 

Segmentation is good. Specificity is good.  Targeted and efficient marketing is good. However, in the housing industry, there are rules that for the last decade have been bent and distorted. 

After going to court, HUD handed Facebook a new set of rules.  The rules are aimed at preventing racial discrimination and digital redlining. 

Legally, unless you work for Zuckerberg, or utilize his platform you have zero requirement to abide by HUD’s racially and demographically sensitive new structure – however, as a human, you should evaluate whether you feel good about ignoring those rules.

In my opinion, we no longer can call this a grey area.  No longer should marketers ignore the impact leveraging data to remove specific races, religions, or sexual orientation from housing advertising and marketing. 

If you have the best interest of others at heart, if you wish to not do others harm, or if you believe that to be anti-discriminatory is to be on the right side of history, then you have the imperative to abolish discriminatory marketing practices from your company.

Here at Revaluate we have access to lots of data – much of it should be considered “sensitive”. However, it is bought and sold and traded like baseball cards.  This information could be used to do harm – but at Revaluate, we’ve made the choice to take the high road.  Discrimination by data needs to stop nationwide. But it starts here.  

We believe that the trend in data is that of greater privacy.  We believe that individuals should not be discriminated against because of their race, religion, sexual orientation or political party preference from housing advertising and marketing in housing. 

We want to protect people and help our clients reduce the threat of future litigation. Thus, we work to “future proof” our processes and systems to comply with data standards and practices that are being successfully implemented overseas. 

As a client of Revaluate, you can trust the following: 

-We will not discriminate by data

-We do not store nor use racial information

-We will work to end zip code redlining 

To help make housing equal, you don’t need to donate to the cause or march in the streets to make a difference – you can make an impact from where you sit at work.  You can help. You can practice Demographically Conscious Marketing. Together we can make a difference and be a part of the solution.