16081: Ad Age Presents Marketers’ Biggest Bullshit Heading Into 2023.

 

Advertising Age published ‘Marketers’ Biggest Concerns Heading Into 2023’—and leading the list were the economy, growth, marketing spending, and sustainability. Toward the end of things to care about—right above data and metrics—was DE&I:

 

Big marketers at least are still concerned at least publicly about diversity, equity and inclusion. But one analysis says otherwise. At least when it comes to casting, the percentage of people of color and women in video ads declined in 2022, reversing two years of gains, according to research by Extreme Reach.

 

But among big marketers, that isn’t the case. [Procter & Gamble Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard] and Verizon Senior VP of Marketing Tony Wells made major points about the importance of DE&I in marketing in speeches at the ANA Masters of Marketing conference in October. And the Cannes Lions—again at the behest of the ANA’s CMO Growth Council members—is requiring that award entries from next year forward disclose the ethnic and gender makeup of people involved in the production of ads.

 

“DE&I will continue to be a big theme for next year,” said [William White], the CMO of Walmart U.S. “For us, it’s about how we make deeper and long-lasting relationships with our associates, our customers and our partners at large. We’re going to spend a minimum 5% of our total budget with Black-owned media and businesses, and that figure will continue to grow.”

 

Wow, Ad Age barely buys the patronizing, political, and performative bullshit, using qualifiers like ‘at least’ and ‘at least publicly’ to describe marketers’ DE&I dedication.

 

As always, the grand proclamations from Pritchard, Wells, and White are absolute hypocrisy when screened against their continued loyal partnerships with White advertising agencies.

 

In 2012, Walmart made bold promises to increase the crumbs spent with multicultural customers. Has anyone measured—or even recorded—the mega-retailer’s progress over the last decade?

 

Sorry, marketers do not view DE&I among the biggest concerns heading into 2023—and based on their actions, they don’t appear to care about it at all.