Recently, CBC Dragons’ Den aired an episode with guest Dragon Simu Liu calling out Quebec-based boba tea company, Bobba, and its founders for engaging in cultural appropriation. This sparked an online firestorm that saw a typical pattern commonplace on social media: both an outpouring of support for Liu’s position and comments, as well as a flood of threats and harassment against Bobba’s founders and other Dragons for their dismissive behaviour during the pitch.
Dragon Manjit Minhas initially backed the deal but has subsequently withdrawn, and a wave of online support is building to have Bobba removed from retailers for their disingenuous marketing, tone-deaf pitch and harmful comments. Once again, the public discourse has been drawn toward the matter of cultural appropriation.
Much has been written, discussed and posted already to condemn and criticize the cultural appropriation, so this article is not about further exhausting that message.
I spent the last couple of days reflecting on how to best add to the public discourse on this issue. In the past, I’ve written about taking a systems thinking approach to tackling these challenging matters, and contributed to a more in-depth breakdown on some of the more recent, highly publicized past examples of cultural appropriation.
As such, through this article I want to explore what is (and what is not) the core issue(s) of cultural appropriation, why Bobba’s pitch is harmful, what all stakeholders could have done differently and why, and what can we all learn from what has unfolded.
It’s About Respect
To start, cultural ownership and the responsibilities of determining the significance of an object, as well as who holds the power to offer “permission for use” can be nuanced and difficult to define, as evidenced in some recent research into cultural appropriation. This is not an issue of BIPOC folks trying to “gatekeep” products, ideas, concepts, and/or cuisine – the goal isn’t to keep Asian products Asian. What is at issue is the continuing practice of disparaging the product/concept from originating culture, perpetuating harmful stereotypes that the whitewashed version is “better,” “cleaner,” or more “trustworthy” than the original. Innovation and respect can go hand in hand – it’s when they become mutually exclusive that we see blatant examples of cultural appropriation.
The fact is, the evolution of culture is rooted in everyone contributing to the progression and innovation of any cultural item or concept, with both internal and external influences to that culture. Unfortunately, the most common error we see is when one disparages the original cultural product in an effort to position their product as superior, in a misguided bid for differentiation, as evidenced in the now-viral Dragons’ Den pitch – even if it perpetuates harmful stereotypes.
The Pitch: Perpetuating Harmful Stereotypes
There’s a fine line between confidence and ignorance for entrepreneurs as they pitch for funding – particularly when it’s a potential once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catapult their business to new stages.
For the Asian community, the opening pitch was rooted in harmful commentary claiming that the contents of an original source product, Taiwanese boba tea, was questionable – perpetuating centuries-old anti-Asian rhetoric that anything of Asian origin is dirty, unclean, and unsanitary. These harmful myths and stereotypes are centuries old and seeing it brought up once again on national, public television strikes a personal chord for many Asians. The needle may have moved over time, but these stereotypes are evidently still embedded into society’s biases.
After Liu raised initial concerns about cultural appropriation, Bobba’s founders attempted to claim boba tea for their own, stating that boba was no longer an “ethnical” product because of the “popping boba.” However, it’s not up to the appropriator to claim that their actions are free from harm – it’s up to the group that the product is being appropriated from.
It was also revealed that although the founders initially stated in their pitch that the product’s manufacturing was conducted in Quebec, Canada, in fact, that the product’s manufacturing, testing and production was conducted entirely all in Taiwan. The founders had misrepresented the truth.
As Liu continued to press the founders on these concerns, neither founders paused to reflect or sought guidance from Liu as a potential investor. Instead, they ignored Liu’s concerns and took a defensive stance. Ultimately, the pitch and its fallout has become an example of what can happen when a learning opportunity about intent vs impact is missed.
Lack of Cultural Sensitivity
A common question that’s often raised is whether the discourse of cultural sensitivity has any place in a venture capital discussion, which is purely focused on metrics and return-on-investment. Some will say no – but if we want our society to improve and become a more inclusive and collaborative space for ongoing dialogue and education, then in fact it does.
The reality is that expectations of business leaders in current times have evolved, and there are growing expectations that leaders possess cultural intelligence and are culturally competent. Research has shown that the best leaders are able to adapt their leadership styles to situations as needed.
Why does this matter? The Dragons are positioned as highly successful business leaders in the Canadian community. In a way, their performance is modelling business leadership to audiences. Therefore, the behaviour modelled should demonstrate cultural competence, taking an informed and educated approach to pursuing economic opportunities without causing further cultural harm.
Unfortunately, despite these shifting perspectives and expectations, being dismissed and gaslit for bringing up valid concerns or dissenting views is still an all too common experience for BIPOC leaders and workers, and seeing this unfold the way it did was very real and relatable – as evidenced by the endless support of online comments empathising with Liu.
Giving BIPOC businesses, leaders, and workers space to explore and share their perspectives enables communities and economies to be better, stronger, and inclusive.
The Role of Media Corporations
So how did we end up here?
According to Liu, after cameras were off, the other Dragons were responsive to his perspectives and resulted in further dialogue. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see this – and that matters. The role of media plays a huge part in how the public perceives situations like this, and it makes us question the CBC’s vision and values as Canada’s broadcaster.
What we do see on camera is Liu respectfully and calmly conducting due diligence by raising valid points and asking questions – something that a thoughtful and responsible investor would do prior to writing a cheque – intercut with dismissive jokes to diffuse the tension, and gaslighting to undermine his commentary. Conversely, if production included a placecard at the end of the episode to indicate that subsequent, off-camera dialogue had taken place, it could have greatly influenced the episode’s outcome and served as an educational moment for audiences.
Additionally, the social media promotion of this episode relied heavily on clickbait. Preview posts framed Liu as “interrupting” an entrepreneur, rather than using more productive language. Worse still, is the caption on the post, “do you know the contents of your bubble tea?” This marketing perpetuates the same, harmful language that we see the founders capitalizing on in their pitch.
The CBC has historically supported independent outlets like Cold Tea Collective, with educational content on its platform around navigating heavy topics like cultural appropriation and systemic racism. In the episode’s fallout, it’s disappointing to see that Dragons’ Den reposted Simu Liu’s response to their Instagram account instead of publishing their own statement, and have also turned off comments to the post – a common response that individuals and corporations often rely on in the wake of a controversy.
By relying instead on a person of colour to diffuse the backlash rather than taking direct accountability for their role in perpetuating cultural erasure, Dragons’ Den unfairly places an unnecessary burden on Liu to perform damage control for the program, rather than production taking responsibility for their role and communicating steps for remediation.
These counterproductive behaviours prevent intentional and powerful learnings from taking place.
Learnings and Takeaways
What should we take away from this incident? Here are a few that stand out:
Entrepreneurs
Cultural appropriation isn’t about preventing people from other cultures from building or profiting off of another culture’s product, concept, or idea. Rather, to do so ethically, pay respect and homage to the origin source in a meaningful way and present your product honestly. Brazilian sportswear Osklen shares royalties with the Asháninka tribe, from whom Oskar Metsavaht, founder and creative director of the brand took motifs and concepts to inspire their spring 2016 collection. By collaborating and uplifting the source culture, respect and homage is paid appropriately. Furthermore, conduct research and challenge your own biases when taking on a product or concept from another culture – it’s integral to the success of your ideas. Going the opposite route, purposely hiding its origins or disparaging the original – may result in short term gains, but perpetuate long-term harm.
Dragons
As business leaders, seek to model better behaviour. The Dragons don’t need to engage in cutthroat, profit-hungry behaviour – many successful businesses are built by ethical, empathetic and mindful leaders who focus on building sustainable brands with loyal customers. Research has shown that Gen Z is looking for leaders who are compassionate and lead by example with a serving heart. Dragons’ Den has an opportunity to model that behaviour and demonstrate that we do have great leaders worthy of respect.
When sensitive and uncomfortable situations like this inevitably arise, sit in discomfort and look for the learning opportunity. Leaders are open to the possibility that they may be wrong, and listen intently rather than reacting. Ultimately, these conversations aren’t supposed to be fun or entertaining, but they’re integral in bridging productive conversations and respectful collaborations, if all involved approach from a place of seeking understanding.
Media
Dragons’ Den serves as an educational tool for budding entrepreneurs. Consumers should hold media to a higher standards and accountability in programming – particularly when it comes to understanding culturally sensitive matters. The fine line between entertainment and social responsibility is a lot clearer when there’s a clear equity, diversity and inclusion mandate. By ensuring that production teams are properly equipped to handle and adapt to these situations, we can hopefully turn moments like these into learning opportunities that model positive behaviour for future generations of entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Hope for the Future
It’s important to commend Liu – as a guest Dragon and reputable Asian Canadian figure – for his exemplary modelling of conduct throughout the entire experience. There is no preparation for a situation where you are suddenly faced with a pitch that’s engaged in cultural appropriation, with little to no support from your peers on television. Liu conducted himself with calm composure and restraint as he thoughtfully selected his words and took the time to educate the founders on his concerns.
In December 2020, the CBC interviewed me in response to an article I’d written about navigating the rise of anti-Asian hate in Canada during the pandemic. At the end of that interview, the host asked me whether I had hope for the future.
My hope is that we can have better leaders – in this case, better business leaders like Liu, whose company mission is “to uplift minority entrepreneurs,” who will continue to stand up and engage in respectful dialogue to help push the needle on issues – however slowly it may be – and for better media leaders to model good leadership behaviour to the next generation of business leaders on shows like Dragons’ Den.
By working together, we can all take each other’s ideas and culture, uplift one another and hopefully, evolve into a better society together.
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