At KRULL, we like to challenge established ideas. Part of our mission is to provoke the next generation into thinking in a different way from our worldview. The current movement for social justice is shifting expectations and forcing markets to take broader demographics into account in a way that is not as easy to ignore as they have traditionally done.

I had a chance to teach a group of international advertising students at Berghs School of Communications. In analyzing most of the racial faux-pas that we’ve encountered in advertising here in Sweden, I believe the key they have in common is a lack of empathy. Building empathy will go a long way in mitigating those mistakes. So, here was an opportunity for me to have my students think outside of the hegemonic box, to put themselves in unfamiliar shoes, and to look at “given” ideas from a perspective that perhaps they hadn’t encountered before. I did this by having the students work on photography briefs, even though they are not photographers themselves. Furthermore, they had to carry out the briefs with the Krull Afro-Swedish/POC identity in mind.

The first brief was to go out and show us their take on intersectionality in Stockholm from a Krull perspective. They had one day to complete the brief. Furthermore, on a cold spring day. And with partially empty pandemic streets. Their solutions involved personally defining the terms in the concept and then asking people they encountered what that meant for them. This solution was a good start in building an understanding.

They came back with a good synopsis of what seems to bind everyone together in this city. The scandinavian way of looking at style is a definite thread in common.