Netflix Debuts ‘Strong Black Lead’ Ad

Netflix launched a new ad campaign highlighting black Netflix creators this past Sunday.

In an effort to support original black content, black executives at Netflix introduced “Strong Black Lead” (@strongblacklead) across social media platforms. The video ad was aired during the 2018 BET Awards, which annually celebrates the successes of African Americans and other minorities in the entertainment business.

This is not a MOMENT. This is a MOVEMENT. pic.twitter.com/HtzTDPIDXo

— Strong Black Lead (@strongblacklead) June 25, 2018

Maya Watson Banks, Netflix director of brand and editorial, told the Los Angeles Times that Strong Black Lead “represents an intentional focus from Netflix to authentically with the black audience.” She also noted that the ad was not in efforts to be exclusionary, but to show that they aren’t afraid to be “specific and intentional”.

Netflix gathered 47 black creators from their platform to recreate the iconic “A Great Day in Harlem” photo of 1958, coining it as “A Great Day in Hollywood”.

So, as part of the branding for Netflix’s @strongblacklead, they paid homage to “A Great Day In Harlem”, the latter a collection of some of 1958’s most notable jazz players.

The original and the remake are both strong images and “blackness on front steps” does evoke something. pic.twitter.com/2sWydhAUKR

— KYLE A B (@kyalbr) June 25, 2018

Caleb McLaughlin, the teen actor from “Stranger Things”, narrated the commercial with powerful words about blackness and content creation. “We’re not a genre because there’s no one way to be black,” said McLaughlin. “This is not a moment. This is a movement. We are Strong Black Leads.”