Based on the program excerpt above, Advertising Week 2011 will perpetuate the stereotypical misperception that our industry’s diversity problems are rooted in a lack of qualified adult candidates—and the only solution is to scour the inner cities for future crops of capable colored people.
Sure, these outreach efforts are noble and arguably necessary. Yet such initiatives fail to address the current imperative to hire mid- and senior-level players.
The truth is, educating minority kids must be supplemented with educating White adults. Specifically, Madison Avenue executives need serious schooling to enhance their cultural competence. Forget molding underprivileged youngsters into marketing mavens. It’s time to tutor White-privileged oldsters on the fine art of inclusion. Mandatory diversity training is just the beginning. Let’s bus Mad Men and Mad Women to minority advertising agencies for intensive internships. Create special aptitude tests to identify the culturally clueless and ship them off to urban communities for reprogramming. Connect Caucasian mentees with multicultural mentors. Promote White people who promote colored people—and fire those who refuse to participate in progress. Replace clichéd comments like, “We’ve got a long way to go,” with declarations like, “We’ve got a long list of achievements.”
The real issue is not a dearth of diversity at the bottom. It’s an abundance of ignorance at the top.
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