Apple’s Definition of ‘Diverse’ Seems to Include Canadians

In an email to Mic’s Melanie Ehrenkranz, an Apple spokesperson has explained how ‘diverse’ the company’s last week’s presentation was, as it even had a Canadian in it. “There was a lot of diversity on that stage that you didn’t recognize,” said the email. “We had a gay man, two African-Americans (Instagram and Nike), a Canadian, and a British Woman, Hannah Catmur” (via The Next Web). 

It must also be pointed out that the Canadian in question, Heather Price of Vancouver-based This Game Studio, doesn’t work for Apple. Neither does anyone else in the email’s list;  they were all representing other companies on stage. The PR rep, who is not named, was responding to a piece about Apple’s lack of on-stage diversity representing the company at major announcements.

Listing your diversity credentials is never a great look. It makes diversity feel like a checklist requirement, instead of an ongoing effort to better reflect your customer base.

The email was marked “off the record,” but Mic never agreed to those terms, and as such felt free to publish the email in its entirety. “We may have different interpretations of diversity,” the email concluded.

Since 1997, only 19 women have presented during Apple presentations. This year Susan Prescott was the only female Apple employee to speak, who demoed realtime collaboration in iWork.

Well, would you interpret ‘diversity’ the same way Apple does?