This USAA commercial features an interracial family. Would the financial services company’s former White advertising agency—Campbell Ewald—have produced such a spot? Not sure the new White advertising agency from Publicis Groupe is much better. While the comments at YouTube have been disabled, there are currently more dislikes than likes for the commercial. Maybe disgruntled Campbell Ewald employees are casting the negative votes.
1 comment:
Interracial couples are the new "Look at us, we're so diverse!" flag for mostly all-white ad agencies to wave.
It's working, too. Conversations about the ethnic makeup of the U.S. ad industry have stopped, and now it's all about casting, all the time.
You can have the illusion of diversity (like this USAA ad, like the Pepsi ad), collect your Adcolor Award and be on your merry way.
Consumers are starting to see through the facade and push back with online complaints, but agencies and especially holding companies would rather put their clients' reputations at risk than actually hire anyone black or brown.
So for now we just get more and more commercials that feature interracial couples that white ad creatives think are diverse, white actually diverse consumers see as pandering.
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