Bank of Canada+Focus Groups= Controversy

Edit: This is a link to Bank of Canada explanation and apology.

 Focus groups are there to help a developer understand how a product, design, or any number of things, may impact on consumer; to avoid damage to the brand, or help them better target the product or service to its intended audience. It generally isn't a bad thing, but you need to be careful what advice you take.

The Bank of Canada designed a 100 dollar bill. They sent that Bill design around to focus groups. Some of the participants thought the women on the bill looked Asian. Some people thought this was a problem; some because it seemed not to reflect what a Canadian is, which is kinda sad. Another group made a point  that it is not right to represent one ethnicity without representing all of them, which is sad in a whole different way. A third group thought the image of an Asian on the 100 dollar bill signified Canadian diversity it that was OK, which for me was OK too.

I don't know if the Bank intended for the person look Asian. The Bank of Canada says "it does have a policy of not highlighting specific ethnicities".  Though I read a comment that made an interesting point. Bank policy on not depicting ethnicity, means the default setting is European. On our money the people depicted are European looking, I won't complain much, when the scene depicted is historical and the participants are actually of European descent. Though if you want you can ask why they don't pick non-european events to depict.

One or two have labeled the Bank racist for alter the image of the 100 dollar bill, an unfair criticism. The Bank is at worst just timid, seeking not to offend one group and by doing so offend more groups. They paid too much attention to too what the focus group said, primarily i think because it dealt with the issue of race. The Bank of Canada was releasing a new bank note, they were not trying to start a dialogue on race. They took the middle path, in this case doing nothing different, hoping to avoid criticism, only to get hit by the train they were trying to avoid. 

What do I expect from institutions like the Bank of Canada? I expect them to lead from the front. No they don't have to be trend setters, it's a bank after all. But when the opportunity arose, in the case of an Asian looking woman on the back of a bank note, they should have embraced it. proudly declared "so what if there is an Asian looking woman doing science on the100 dollar bill. Asian women do work in science don't they?"
I missed opportunity there.