Essay 4821

The latest GM-related fiasco spotlighted in Essay 4816 inspires a fresh question:

Why do corporations like General Motors associate with general-market advertising agencies exhibiting such appalling diversity records?

After all, most major businesses display a strong commitment to diversity. GM was one of America’s first corporations to establish a minority supplier diversity program, with a pledge that reads, “It is General Motors’ policy to help minorities, women and small business achieve economic equality by fostering and encouraging diverse enterprise. It is recognized that an effective means of accomplishing this is through the placement of appropriate business with diverse suppliers of goods and services.”

MultiCultClassics visitors are well aware that corporations openly hype their diversity achievements.

MultiCultClassics visitors are also well aware that the advertising industry openly admits its abject failure with diversity.

Yet advertisers like GM continue to look the other way, gladly flowing billions of marketing dollars into general-market agencies’ wallets.

This is one reason why people are concerned with GM’s potential account moves. It’s bad enough that the automaker may reduce the amount of money awarded to minority-owned shops. But the greater outrage involves handing the loot to White-controlled multicultural firms whose true leaders show adversity to diversity.

Unilever is currently taking heat over the contradictions posed by simultaneously producing the Dove Real Beauty campaign and the stereotypically sexist Axe Body Spray work. Surely there is more hypocrisy to be seen via advertisers declaring devotion to diversity while consorting with partners whose actions border on blatant discrimination.

Oh, clients insist they can’t dictate the hiring policies of advertising agencies. GM North America Vice President Mark LaNeve essentially said so when pressed on the minority-ownership status of possible vendors in an interview with Target Market News (see Essay 4778 and Essay 4787).

However, everyone in our industry knows the line is bullshit. Clients have always influenced hiring decisions. Dell recently gave its business to WPP, instructing the holding company to create an exclusive agency for the computer seller—plus, Dell named the adman to run the venture. Who hasn’t witnessed instances where clients ask for agency executives to be removed from their account? Or call for pals and kin to receive jobs? Advertising agencies comply with the requests 99.99 percent of the time. And quickly. In short, advertisers could require general-market agencies to embrace diversity.

Instead, advertisers ultimately compensate by employing minority-owned shops, thereby cleansing their corporate souls of sinning with general-market agencies. It’s just another dirty little secret on Madison Avenue.

It should be interesting to watch how GM wiggles out of this political predicament. In the meantime, MultiCultClassics presents a new parody ad incorporating an authentic GM diversity message.