For Black History Month, Advertising Age is publishing content from Blacks in Adland, covering a variety of topics.
The content below features Black agency leaders discussing how DEIBA+ initiatives have diminished in Adland.
The opening question reads, “Why did DEI conversations go quiet?”
Um, because President Donald J. Trump made like Don Draper and obliterated the conversation.
Black agency leaders on DEI’s quiet phase—and why courage still matters
By Brian Bonilla
It’s no secret that the conversation around diversity, equity and inclusion in the industry has diminished from where it was only a few years ago. Investments in DEI initiatives have declined and representation in Super Bowl advertising, both in front of and behind the camera, continues to be an issue.
To understand what this shift means for the industry’s future, I convened five prominent Black agency leaders for a candid discussion about why the push on DEI went quiet—and what brands risk by staying silent. The following is a lightly edited and condensed version of my talk with Asmirh Davis, co-founder and president of Majority; Walter T. Geer III, chief creative officer of innovation, North America at VML; Keith Cartwright, founder and chief creative officer of Cartwright; Taj Reid, global chief creative officer of Burson; and Kaleeta McDade, global chief experience design officer at VML.
Why did DEI conversations go quiet?
Keith: You could even tell last year in Cannes: those conversations aren’t apparent in the work.
It’s a great conversation to have because the first question you ask is why. Is it fear? Is it burnout? Is it both? Is there no desire because there wasn’t a financial impact attached to it?
Kaleeta: I think it’s fear of retribution … When you’re looking at brands, there’s an immense fear of retribution from the government that is financial.
You have to look at the fact that people who are in power are also billionaires. So I think people have a healthy fear of litigation, a healthy fear of just anything that the government might do regarding that. But at the same time, I think there’s a groundswell of citizens and Americans who want to see who’s brave.
I’ll say Costco has really stepped up, and those who have stepped up have felt the dividends of that. You’ve seen their stock go up, you’ve seen more people sign up. So people have to balance their fear with progress, because right now, if you’re not choosing a side—because there’s no in between—I think you’re going to be stuck in the messy middle.
Consumers are watching which brands step up
Walter: I understand why brands have backed off and ripped everything apart, because it’s a massive financial risk to them. Yet we are in a moment where people are waiting and watching to see what brands do.
And we’re also in a moment where people are using their platforms, their voices on social media and their dollars to represent and stand behind the brands that are doing things that benefit them and other communities. There is a line being drawn.
I guarantee you, three or four years from now, when this starts to turn around—because the pendulum always swings the other direction—you are going to have a multitude of brands coming back out. Because again, we are seeing the browning of America, and by 2040 the “minority” will be the majority, and brands are going to be going after them. Multicultural is mainstream media. They’re going to want to hop back on that other side, and I think people are going to remember.
Keith: As an industry though, we’re stuck, right? Because we’re at the power of these brands making a decision on how they want to move and operate. We can try to convince them, but at the end of the day … they’re saying, “We took that risk four years ago, we took that risk eight years ago, and look where it got us.”
That’s fair. But at the same time, we have to have a conversation about what progress looks like in this moment and how we, as an advertising industry, can quantify that progress and demonstrate how it can create commerce if you stay with it, and Costco is a great example.
Walter: Costco also has the money to stand up and say it. There are a lot of smaller brands that wish they could do that but can’t play in that space. It would cripple the entire company. So again, to some degree, I get it.
Overcoming a fear of backlash
Asmirh: But do you have an example of where a smaller brand has done that and it’s been detrimental to them?
Walter: I don’t. That’s the thing.
Asmirh: Right. That’s what I was just thinking about. Where is this imaginary monster that we’re all—
Kaleeta: I think Bud Light. That was the one time—it wasn’t a small brand—where I remember a transgender woman was featured and they lost billions of dollars. I remember that stream was the moment when I started hearing the fear of being diverse, the fear of showing up differently.
When in actuality, what we know that what that was, is you didn’t understand your base … you’re sitting in this very bright spot and going way over here. What is your base? I feel like that’s when it started.
Taj: The lazy performative is now really, really in jeopardy. But with the work that we do every day—all of us, just in this conversation—I’m super inspired by the work that we’re designing that speaks to marginalized communities in a way that makes the commerce or the business grow.
I feel like it’s more important than ever to have diverse lived experiences in the room, to develop those experiences that lead to conversion in a way that’s long-lasting. Because, like you said, people will remember.
Asmirh: Last year was hard for everybody. For us, it was even more of an anomaly because, since the inception of our agency, we were on such a rocket trajectory. So it was more stabilizing for us—a stabilizing year—than anything in terms of serious headwinds.
But it was good because it helped us double down on what we were about and what we were building.
I’ve seen the impact more so in the industry initiatives that we are a part of … I’m on the board of BLAC [an internship program focused on getting diverse talent onto the industry], and it was a really hard year for us and continues to be as we go into 2026, because our model relied so heavily on brands and agencies getting behind the cause of Black talent and underrepresented talent.
No one wants to invest and put their money and resources behind bringing in diverse experiences into their doors and nurturing it. That is where we’re feeling it.
Keith: The economy froze because there was instability. Obviously, advertising and marketing get hit first.
The common way of thinking is when you don’t know what to do, you just stand still. I think now they’ve sort of figured out how they can grow from this administration and what’s going on in the economy, and they’re starting to open back up.
I don’t know if it’s going to be as good as it was five years ago, but I think it’s going to get better.
Our pipeline’s healthy, but the thing that’s interesting is: healthy pipeline, lower margins. And I think that’s industrywide. There are tons of opportunities. Businesses are up for pitch. But when you look at what the fee is, you start to scratch your head and say, “Wow, it’s starting to become less and less worth it if you can’t figure out a way to make margin on it.”
Do we change the conversation, or keep pushing it?
Taj: I don’t know if it’s changing the conversation as much as keeping that conversation going.
It is incredibly fatiguing and frustrating. But at the same time, I think that persistence—and not letting it be muffled out—is so important. Maybe more important than ever now. Because I actually do see people retreating from the conversation and saying, “It’s not safe to even talk about it, so why are we even going there?” I think we need to, if anything, lean into it more, but also start building onto that in ways that can really be impactful.
Asmirh: It’s not changing the conversation, but it is changing the narrative of how we enter the conversation. Appealing to people’s morality and their empathy and their hearts to do the right thing—in history has shown that has never worked.
Walter: Every brand wants to hit mainstream media, right? Well mainstream media is multicultural. It’s Black and brown people, so if you want to make money you have to think about that.
Asmirh: But we traditionally, industrywide, have not led with that piece of it. And that’s why I believe that our business has not been hugely impactful.
What needs to change this year
Walter: I’m sick of this exhausting shift. It’s really tiring, feeling like you have to come in and beat your head against the same wall every single day. Ideas that are brilliant, that could make a massive impact, are just pushed aside due to fear.
I think brands need to be a little bold and step out and do the work. And again, it’s not DEI work; it’s going after your market, going after your audience, expanding on it to some degree.
Kaleeta: The only thing different I would tell my Black leaders who are running these businesses is: survive the encounter. Whatever you need to do to keep your doors open, survive the encounter. I know it’s an onslaught of things that are happening. The reason they’re not doing extra things is that there’s probably not enough time to do it, because you’re still trying to survive the encounter. Thriving will happen later.
I don’t think every year will be a win, but I think this year is about surviving. And I know that’s not as sexy as us saying it’s a year of Black joy or a post-George Floyd glow-up. But it is a year of reconciliation and us understanding who we are. So that’s what I would say to my Black leaders.
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