8443: C’MON WHITE MAN! Episode 3.

(MultiCultClassics credits ESPN’s C’MON MAN! for sparking this new, semi-regular blog series.)

The New York Times reported that Jeff Goodby of Goodby Silverstein & Partners hired former Adweek columnist Barbara Lippert to serve as the shop’s curator of popular culture. Lippert had worked for 20 years as an advertising critic at the weekly trade publication before being recently dismissed. “We’d always thought it would be interesting to have someone on staff whose job it would be to stay in touch with popular culture,” said Goodby.

WTF. GS&P is recognized around the globe for employing account planners and creatives who not only stay in touch with popular culture, they actually influence and invent it. The haters commenting at AgencySpy were quick to label the move as a mercy hire. Hell, the typically mild-mannered David Burn at AdPulp remarked, “As for her new job, this seems like a pretty clear case of ‘We like Barbara, let’s find her a job.’ Why Goodby couldn’t just say that, I don’t know.” Um, because it would be an open admission that even progressive agencies like GS&P have prehistoric hiring practices rooted in cronyism and other old-school forms of exclusivity. Got an unqualified buddy who’s out of work? No problem. We’ll fabricate a fucking position for her from scratch. Yet when an unknown minority candidate shows up, you better have world-class credentials with a portfolio full of Cannes Lions.

C’MON WHITE MAN!