Anonymous comments left at the Carl Warner post insist there is an anti-Republican bias at work in the advertising industry.
The person claims that in the past decade, “I can think of maybe six, tops, people I’ve encountered through the years who were professed conservatives. … I’ve been in two creative sessions at two separate, unrelated agencies in the last few weeks where the entire room spent their downtime bashing Republicans and professing their own hipper, more liberal street cred. … Again, spent downtime, break time, stopping work to snack and eat and at the same time discuss how Republicans are bad and horrible because of XYZ and Democrats are so much better and more open-minded because of ABC.”
Gee, the words almost mirror the trials and tribulations experienced by racial and ethnic minorities in the business. It’s easy to imagine dialogue such as, “I can think of maybe six, tops, people I’ve encountered through the years who were Black. … I’ve been in two creative sessions at two separate, unrelated agencies in the last few weeks where the entire room spent their downtime bashing Blacks. … Again, spent downtime, break time, stopping work to snack and eat and at the same time discuss how Blacks are bad and horrible because of XYZ and Whites are so much better and more open-minded because of ABC.”
Yet it all begs the question: Is there a dearth of political conservatism on Madison Avenue?
In 1963, The Journal of Higher Education published “The Right to Fail: Creativity versus Conservatism” by Albert J. Sullivan. In the essay, Sullivan spotlighted the tension between two processes—creativity and conservatism—pulling in different directions. The author wrote, “The one process, toward change, we may characterize as creativity; the other process, resisting change, as conservatism.”
Sullivan’s observations certainly apply to the advertising industry, where writers and art directors (representing creativity) routinely square off with account people (representing conservatism). And conservative creative people are often deemed losers, while creative account people are deemed annoying losers.
Generational components could also be at play. Winston Churchill is quoted as having said something along the lines of, “If you’re not a liberal at twenty, you have no heart; if you’re not a conservative at forty, you have no brain.” No need to delve deeper on the implications here, except to note that adpeople have been known to make decisions on work with an eye towards having to pay mortgages and meet other financial obligations associated with life stages.
The items above sorta fly in the face of the contention that conservatives are minorities within advertising agencies. Indeed, they appear to be well represented in our ranks. And if the notion is further elevated to politics—specifically, Democrats and Republicans—it stands to reason that the parties are adequately represented too. Granted, Republican creative directors and Democratic account directors might be oddballs, but it’s a safe bet they exist as well.
In the event that anti-Republicanism is a problem on Madison Avenue, look forward to activists taking action. High schools and colleges will be scoured for young GOP and Tea Party enthusiasts. Political intern programs will be launched. The One Club will introduce “Where Are All The Republicans?” Kat Gordon will invent the “1% Conference” to salute the One Percent among us. And ADCOLOR® will award a special trophy to Black Republicans.
2 comments:
It seems to me that in order to believe that the current state of the ad industry, status quo with little diversity, is the product of a mixing pot of liberal and conservative decision makers in equal quantities, you have embrace the idea that those two kinds of people both flock in balanced numbers to the creative arts.
You have to believe that conservatives are so widely known for their creativity and artistry and free minds and willingness to take creative risks that they are absolutely drawn to advertising and choose that as a career path in the same way, and in the same numbers, that liberal minded types do.
Even the seemingly dullest bean counter account exec at at agency is still drawn there to a creative environment instead of working at, say, an oil company or medical office. So you have to believe that there is a 50/50 mix of liberals and conservatives everywhere in the ad world.
Truthfully, I don't know what the reason for all the sameness in the advertising industry is. I don't understand why it's so much easier for them to start up programs for "underprivileged" 2nd graders to foster an interest in advertising rather than, you know, HIRE THE TALENTED PEOPLE OF COLOR RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF THEM.
Just wondering if maybe there is something to the argument that a group of identical agency people with an identical worldview are locking out anyone who doesn't operate in precisely the same way because they are intolerant of differences. Any and all differences, that is, at the end of the day.
Well, no, it’s not necessary to believe any of the things you listed. First, you may be wrong in thinking “even the seemingly dullest bean counter account exec at an agency is still drawn there to a creative environment…” Presuming you are indeed discussing account executives versus accountants in the accounting department—the latter group, incidentally, probably cares very little about the creativity of the company—it’s idealistic to think everyone is drawn to a creative environment. Some people may get giddy over the data, sales figures, project management or any host of reasons. The account executive role has evolved dramatically from the days of being the ones who sold or helped to sell the work.
To be clear, this blog believes the ratio of conservative people versus creative people has little or no impact on the dearth of diversity in the field. Regardless of whether people are conservative or creative, the root issue remains the outdated hiring practices employed by everyone. That is, the industry is still driven by a buddy system that incorporates cronyism, nepotism and other isms based on privilege-based constructs. It’s not what you know; it’s who you know. Despite any arguments to the contrary, Madison Avenue is not a meritocracy. Rather, people hire people they are familiar and comfortable with—usually people who mirror them in every way. Have you ever seen an agency where an edgy creative director is prone to hiring conservative creatives, or a conservative account director is hiring revolutionary account people? No, people are hiring the people they can relate to. It has virtually nothing to do with individual conservatism or creativity.
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