The AH case of course confirms many opponents of customer profiles or personas in their right. Not least because of the aforementioned response from the College for Human Rights, which states that there is no legal discrimination, but there is stigmatization. “We are not in favor of linking characteristics to groups. That is not useful and also dodgy,” spokesperson Barbara Bos tells NOS. “You stick a label on people and although this is not legally prohibited, the question is whether you should want this as a company.”
Mrs Bos has a valid point there. It can be tricky sometimes. That's why it's wise to be careful. Or rather: to be aware of the possible impact of choices you make in filling in personas and profiles.
An example from my own practice
To illustrate how slippery the ice can be, an example from my own practice. Quite recently, a client literally asked me: “Suppose the AD were to see these personas, what would the headline of the article be? And would we be proud of that or would we blush with shame?” A legitimate, sharp question (and in retrospect asked with a bit of foresight, although this is certainly not about Albert Heijn). A question, moreover, that sent us back to the drawing board. Because although we had been very alert to leave no room for stigmatization, it turned out that we could still go a step further.
We had done extensive research, and therefore knew the client groups very well. We were aware that sometimes these were difficult living situations, and for that reason we had already done our utmost to create neutral situation sketches and descriptions, without veiled judgements. And we had chosen not to use any personal names (for example Johan or Rachid, Marjolein or Aïsja) and no photos or drawings. Precisely because of the idea that the link between name or appearance and judgement forms a real danger, and that stigmatisation is lurking there.
The link between name or appearance and judgment canada mobile number list poses a real danger, stigmatization is always lurking
But yes, you have to give personas a name or title, so we opted for descriptions of their attitude towards their situation, consisting of two elements:
What do we see the persona do, say or think? (i.e.: behavior)
What characterizes his situation, living environment or even his daily life? (call it 'circumstances')
What could be more neutral than a factual statement? Based on research and therefore substantiated, and therefore objective and judgment-free, we thought.
If you're not careful you could end up in a bad way
Our research showed that a large group of customers were not very proactive and had difficulty arranging things without encouragement. The same group also often appeared to be faced with unpleasant or disruptive situations through no fault of their own, and very often simply had bad luck.