We Can Truly Learn About the Importance of Diversity from “Zootopia” 

written by Maria Steffany (Praxis' interns - LSPR students)

Well, have you seen the movie? If you have, I bet you guys laughed out loud when you saw sloths laughing in slow-motion. But in the end, Sloth, the slowest animal in the world, is the one who gets to drive a fancy sports car and gets ticketed for a traffic violation.

Yeah, I know Sloth is everybody’s favorite, but Sloth is not the main character I’d like to talk about right now #sorrynotsorry

So, here’s the main character in the movie and what can we learn from her:

Judy Hopps

Judy, the little young female rabbit who wishes to be a great police officer and bring justice to the world, is left stuck with handing out parking tickets. But in the end, Judy succeeds in cracking the riddle of how animals become savages that shake the city and peace is restored in Zootopia.

Well, there are times when people judge us by our physical appearances without even trying to get to know what we can actually do. These days, people could simply give you that “top to bottom” kind of look on first encounter and then decide whether or not to be friends with you. The same thing happens in the workplace, where sometimes it’s not about performance but about who is doing what. Judy never treats people (animals) as stereotypes, although that’s what others do to her.

The fact that Judy is still willing to fulfill her duties without giving up even though everybody’s trying to stop her shows that she is strong enough to prove to the world that in this era, there is no place for  old-school prejudice against someone’s backgrounds. This is very relevant to public relations.

PR people deal with so many different characters or organizations, clients’ points of view, and perspectives in dealing with communication problems. The broad scopes of PR work affect the way PR people perform their jobs and determine the level of their professionalism, especially in developing strategies. This is because the more PR people embrace inclusivity--meaning open to any kind of public point of view--the better they can understand how to reach the target audience. The more PR people understand their target audience, the better they can communicate with them in a creative way and the more goodwill and mutual understanding they gain at last.

So, do you still want to work with someone because of their looks? Or because their performance? The choice is yours.