In late December 2017, the New York Times was blasted for being culturally insensitive due to a photograph it published as part of a special section about a new “Asian-inspired steak house” (Moye, 2017). The photo had plates of food with unnatural chopstick placement, according to Asian cultural norms (Figure 1). In particular, chopsticks were sticking up out of a plate of food, which resembles incense placement that is used as offerings to the deceased (Everything Chopsticks, 2015). Within hours of the photograph being published, the public began to criticize the newspaper of being culturally insensitive. The article should have been a highlight of a new business opening with cultural flair, but instead turned into the public focusing on poor photographic choices. Moran, Abramson & Moran suggest that organizations should focus on cultural due diligence which simply means time should be taken to explore the unknown culture’s norms to minimize gaffes (2014). In this case, the New York Times was not entering into a global business deal, but the point of the story was to attract a culturally diverse pool of patrons to a new eatery.
Warter & Warter define cultural due diligence as a process to discern the degree of cultural alignment between parties (2017). In this case, the New York Times and the general public were the two parties in question. Had a cultural due diligence study been conducted, specifically about global chopstick etiquette, they would have immediately known the photograph would be considered as offensive or rude. When the reporters go into the field and investigate potential stories for the paper, they are conducting a form of due diligence.
Standard due diligence is gathering information, confirming information, and identifying risks (Howson, 2003). The reporter who researched the new restaurant seemed to “drop the ball” after the article was finished and did not follow-up with the photographer who staged the scene that would eventually become part of the finished piece. In order to avoid this situation from happening again, it is important for the leaders at the New York Times to make cultural due diligence a priority.
I don’t have intimate knowledge of the inner workings or corporate culture at the New York Times, but if investigating cultural norms was part of the process, then this gaffe probably would not have happened. Leaders have the ultimate burden of setting the tone for everyone else with regard to corporate values. If being culturally sensitive is part of the leader’s vision, then it is their responsibility to keep it visible to the organization’s workforce. When an organization fails to be culturally sensitive, it can cause negative backlash and in this case, the backlash came from the general public. In all, the gaffe was probably embarrassing to the newspaper and may have cost them future advertising opportunities with the restaurant it was promoting. Mistakes like this can carry costly consequences, but when it is all said and done, we can hope that lessons were learned that will not be repeated.
Figure 1. Some of the offerings at Jade Sixty, part steakhouse and part Asian, on the Upper East Side (Maslov, 2017)
References:
Everything Chopsticks. (July 21, 2015). The definitive guide to chopsticks etiquette around the world. Everything Chopsticks. Retrieved from https://everythingchopsticks.com/Guide-to-Chopsticks-Etiquette-Around-the-World.html
Howson, P. (2003). Due diligence. Burlington, VT: Gower Publishing Company. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/pensu/detail.action?docID=3002184.
Maslov, S. (December 26, 2017). Some of the offerings at Jade Sixty, part steakhouse and part Asian, on the Upper East Side [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-york-times-chopsticks-photo_us_5a454f27e4b06d1621b7b8fa
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R. & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences (9th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Moye, D. (December 28, 2017). Twitter users call out New York Times chopsticks photo for cultural insensitivity. Huffington Post. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-york-times-chopsticks-photo_us_5a454f27e4b06d1621b7b8fa
Warter, I. & Warter L. (February 2017). Cultural due diligence in M&A. Importance of soft risk factors. Annals of Spiru Haret University, 17(2). Retrieved from http://anale.spiruharet.ro/index.php/economics/article/view/1724/pdf_1
Ericka Diaz says
Hi Kim,
I really enjoyed reading your post. It is a great example of the problems that can occur when the organizational culture does not include the practice of cultural due diligence as an accepted norm- much like globally minded individuals do as a matter of routine (Abramson, et al., 2018). Had there been a cultural due diligence practice in place for any article related to a custom or tradition, the author would not have thought twice about running it through the “program” for a cultural sensitivity quality check, and the chop stick problem would have been identified and fixed. Another measure may have been to ask the restaurant for approval before submitting photos as an additional measure of cultural sensitivity quality control.
Ultimately, mistakes will happen whenever humans are involved, but as you said, it is most important to learn from them so they can be avoided in the future.
Great post!
Ericka
Abramson, N. R., Moran, R. T., & Moran, S. V. (2018). Managing cultural differences (10th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
axb5607 says
Kimberly,
I really enjoyed reading your blog post because you went into depth about topics I was interested in after reading the lesson. Upon watching the lesson video, I became more interested into why the placement of chopsticks was so important in Asian cultures. You answered my questions for me and provided even more detail about the actual effects of this happening. I agree with you that the newspaper should have researched into the Asian culture before publishing. Even though this new restaurant is in America, there are many differing cultures, especially in its very own New York City. Moran, Abramson, and Moran (2014) discusses how eating habits can differ between countries and even between cultures within the same country depending on location. Using a fork to eat maybe acceptable in one area, but using chopsticks is acceptable in another area.
References:
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences (9th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.