‘British’ does not equal ‘English’ and brands need to understand why that’s important.

There’s a very good chance you’re going to read this thinking ‘here’s a polemic rant from salty Welsh rugby fan annoyed by a Tweet’. And considering, by the time you read this, we’ll have likely been on the receiving end of a pasting, you could be forgiven for that assuming that. NB — I think Pivac deserves the time to build on his vision for the team and there are some exciting young prospects in the squad. But that’s another matter.

But my chagrin this morning is not to do with impending rugby doom, but with this Tweet from British Airways. And, for once, it’s not because they’ve used a 9:16 version when they should’ve used the 1:1.

As someone who has worked a fair amount on sports sponsorship campaigns (indeed I have even worked with the RFU before) I understand contractual obligations are what they are. And one could argue that sports sponsorship always involves ‘picking a side’ with a certain amount of artifice. Japanese car company Mitsubishi, for example, sponsor both England and Scotland rugby. Italian company Macron are the kit provider for both Wales and Scotland, as well as Gli Azzuri. So, inevitably, there will be contradictory messages along the way and, in the most part, this is entirely harmless commercialised fun.

However, it’s a different issue when a company takes its entire brand identity from a geocultural identity that is explicitly British. Not English. British.

I’ve always found it a little odd for British Airways to sponsor England at all, but I get it, it’s fine. It’s a commercial deal that benefits both parties. Twickenham is just down the road from Heathrow. Nobody gets hurt. It is, however, problematic for British Airways to support England against Wales or, for that matter, Scotland*.

It means that the sponsor is either saying England is more important to them as a company than the other nations that make up its collective demonym of ‘British’. Or it is saying that ‘British’ and ‘English’ are synonymous, entirely denying the identity of Welsh, Scottish and (some) Northern Irish people.

British Airways, for whatever this actually means for a private company, is the ‘flag carrier’ airline of the United Kingdom* with red, white and blue on every tail-fin in the fleet. Now, pedants amongst you might argue that the Union flag doesn’t actually include any elements of Wales in it and you would be correct. It doesn’t. And lo, you’ve supported my point.

Wales is treated as a subordinate partner in the ‘British’ relationship and the very real effects of this are felt in deprived former mining communities, shuttered steelworks and flooded villages. I won’t go into detail on the numerous political and socio-economic ramifications of this — the rugby starts soon and I have beer to pour — but needless to say, there are lots. Nor will I reel off examples of bigotry directed against the Welsh — other’s have written far better than I could on this matter. But what I will say is that rugby is important to Wales, not just because it’s the greatest sport on the planet(!), but because it is part of our cultural identity. And our cultural identity is important to us.

So if this tweet was crafted conscious of the inherent contradiction of British Airways backing England “against Wales”, then its clumsy. If it was done ignorant of it, then I would say that’s actually worse. It is an example of lazy Anglo-centrism from a brand that absolutely should know better.

Rugby rivalry is good and friendly teasing is a mutually enjoyed past-time on both sides of the border. But cultural identities are important and shouldn’t be ignored. They deserve respect. And brands, especially those that utilise those cultural identities for commercial gain, which is essentially what ‘sponsorship’ is, have a duty to be sensitive to them.

Now you may think this is a small matter in the enormous pantheon of Anglo-ethnocentrism, and maybe it is, but even ‘small matters’ matter to some people. And personally, this one matters to me. So, please, if you take one thing away from this — do me a favour and stop saying ‘English’ when you mean ‘British’.

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*I’m conscious it gets a bit more complicated for Northern Ireland.