15234: Havas Life Hanukkah Hype.

Gee, will the oh-so-caring Havas Life Family also post a greeting for Kwanzaa…? Don’t bet your life on it.

15232: Pandemic Pastry Promotion.

M&C Saatchi in Israel presents the annual Hanukkah campaign for Roladin Café and Bakery, highlighting the COVID-19 pandemic—and ignoring Black Lives Matter with no chocolate pastry talent…?

14400: Celebrating The Diversity Of Hanukkah…?

M&C Saatchi in Israel and Roladin Bakery & Patisserie make Hanukkah a multicultural experience with multi-colored desserts.

13613: V&F Is B&S.

Adweek published a lengthy piece on a Grey London stunt intended to spark industry-wide diversity. What’s the breakthrough concept? Rename the agency after its founders—two White men of Jewish descent—who opened the flagship New York shop in 1917 when anti-Semitism was prevalent. Okay, but in that very same year, Blacks held a silent march in Harlem to protest getting lynched, beaten and burned. Lawrence Valenstein and Arthur Fatt feared their names could cost them business. Blacks feared their skin color could cost them their lives—and it would take 30-40 years before Blacks would actually be hired at New York advertising agencies. Oddly enough, the Grey London scheme is intended to woo racial and ethnic minorities. So to perhaps offset all the Old White Guys imagery, the bold initiative includes minority scholarships and high school outreach efforts. Gee, how original. Sorry, but even in 2017, White men of Jewish descent have a much better and easier chance of landing jobs at Grey London than racial and ethnic minorities—and this would still be the case if the shop suddenly hired Gustavo Martinez as its CEO.

Grey London Renames Itself Valenstein & Fatt, After Grey’s Jewish Founders, in Call for Diversity

Office will take the name for 100 days, urges industry to change too

By Tim Nudd

Grey London is using the agency’s own 100-year-old origin story as a springboard for an industry-wide call to embrace diversity and acceptance via a self-branding campaign, launching today, in which it will rename itself, for more than three months, as Valenstein & Fatt, after its Jewish founders.

It’s 1917. New York is booming. Two young Jewish entrepreneurs, Lawrence Valenstein and Arthur Fatt, set up a company. But anti-Semitism is rife. Their names could cost them business. So they call it Grey, after the color of the wallpaper.

The London office will fully operate as Valenstein & Fatt—changing its office signage, stationery and business cards, answering its phones that way, even operating under that name in pitches—for the next 100 days.

The initiative is happening just as the British government is triggering Article 50 and begins the process of disconnecting the U.K. from the European Union. It is also launching as “xenophobia is raising its ugly head once more, along with political isolationism,” the agency adds.

Also, the symbolic gesture of the name change is being backed up by more concrete plans, including the following steps, in the agency’s own words:

1) We are publishing our diversity data. Progress cannot be made without clear measures and transparency about who we are today. Our new study is independent and in-depth and is based on the voluntary responses of 305 individuals, which represents over 60 percent of the agency and reported according to standards set by the British Office of National Statistics (ONS). Research developed in partnership with PSB examines roots, identity, education and lifestyle. It will be measured and shared annually and we are encouraging other agencies to take it up as their methodology.

2) We are launching a cross-industry taskforce to identify the barriers to recruitment and retention of talent among ethnic minorities. The first gathering will be co-chaired by Trevor Philips OBE and CEO Leo Rayman, and we are inviting leading organizations in this space and the most progressive agencies, including chairwoman of Mediacom, Karen Blackett, to join us in agreeing industry-wide initiatives and targets. We will also commit to targets for our advertising output, to ensure that it is nationally representative.

3) We are launching the Valenstein & Fatt Bursary to pay a year’s rent for up to two young people from ethnic minority and disadvantaged backgrounds. To qualify, candidates must have been offered a job at Grey, be state educated and live outside of greater London. Applications are open from this summer.

4) We will inspire the next generation, by working with 100 primary and secondary schools to introduce students to a career in the creative industries. Working with exec head Michelle Williams and education therapist Jodie Cariss and starting with the New Wave Federation primary schools in London’s Hackney, we will offer a tailor-made program for the schools involved, from assemblies to full-day workshops, coaching and agency open days.

5) We will develop our diverse talent. Recognizing that recruiting people with different start points isn’t enough, 50 individuals identified as ones to watch will be matched and formally mentored by our executive and senior leadership. In parallel we will run community mentoring workshops open to any member of the agency who wants to participate.

[This video explains more about the project.]

Adweek spoke to Sarah Jenkins, chief marketing officer at Valenstein & Fatt, about the initiative.

Where did this idea come from?

We’re an agency that is feeling the craziness of the last 12-18 months. The world feels a little bit uglier. A little bit less welcoming. So we wanted to make sure we were celebrating difference. And getting diversity right into the heart of our organization. Coincidentally it’s a big year for Grey this year—100 years old. So the Valenstein and Fatt story feels relevant and meaningful in the context of business and society today. Subsequently celebrating them, and telling their story, was the right way for us to make a definitive statement about our diversity commitment moving forward.

While a great gesture, this idea will also clearly cause confusion here and there. Is dealing with that confusion an embodiment of the kind of hard work needed to commit to diversity?

It’s definitely got some risk, but good ideas are hard work and generally require a healthy kick of bravery. Which is a lovely parallel with the spirit of our founders. It definitely helps that we are in the communication business, so hopefully, for the vast, vast majority of the time, we can avoid confusing people.

Tell us why the concrete steps you are also taking will make a difference.

We should first talk about what we are going to get wrong. Diversity is complex, nuanced and gnarly. So they might not all make the difference we are wanting. We’ll fail fast and go again and tell everyone what’s gone wrong, so they don’t make the same mistake.

That said, we have worked hard to get our first initiatives right. We have talked to some brilliant and smart organizations like Channel 4 and the Social Mobility Foundation. Progressive agencies like Mediacom. People who have spent years thinking about the problem and the solutions, like Trevor Phillips. And we’ve backed our own instincts.

When you break down the initiatives, it’s hard not to see them working in some form. One-hundred schools. That’s at least 1,000 kids we are going to hang out with, possibly closer to 5,000 or even 10,000—how can they not help inspire kids to stay curious and think about a career in our industry?

A bursary to help kickstart your first 12 months in—how can they not help us attract some of the best state-educated kids in the country?

Dedicated time and investment to ensure all our diverse talent are able to develop and a clear leadership program to ensure all the glass ceilings are smashing and stay smashed—how can that not inspire the next generation of young leaders, no matter what their background and who they are?

Working with the best agencies and businesses in our industry to push the diversity agenda, so that the smartest, most creative minds are applying themselves to a big gnarly comms and behavioral challenges—how can that not shift the diversity dial in ad land?

What metrics will you look at to gauge the improvement in diversity, both at Grey and across the industry?

As an agency, we will gauge success by seeing more diverse talent coming into the building. And that is any diverse talent. We would love to encourage more people from BAME backgrounds. And more people who are state-school educated. To have more diverse talent identified as future leaders. Future leaders we then keep in our agency, or at the very least we keep in the industry.

As an industry… for agencies to stop fudging their diversity numbers and realize that diversity is a genuine commercial win, not a marketing headline or some weird, point scoring exercise. For advertising to be seen at the forefront of diversity in business, particularly in attracting the best young talent. I mean, fair play to the accountancy firms for leading from the front, but surely, with our insane communication and creative skills, we should be helping them set the bar, not be running behind them.

11774: The Crazy Ones Not Kosher.

The latest installment of CBS series The Crazy Ones tapped Jewish culture in typically clueless style. To land a new motel chain account, copywriter Zach agreed to play Bar Mitzvah MC at the special event for the prospective client’s son. Can’t even begin to list all the inappropriate comments. Oy vey, this show so sucks.

10102: Mad Mensch.

The latest episode of Mad Men didn’t even show secretary Dawn Chambers at all, as creator Matthew Weiner focused on Jewish culture, which he’s more comfortable exploiting. Yep, Tanner Colby clearly had no idea what he was typing about.

Image above found here—but perhaps inspired by this?

9886: Faking It.

This peculiar campaign protests ghost/scam ads by essentially presenting a contest to create a ghost/scam ad. The winner receives an all-expenses-paid trip to Minsk, where he/she will represent Israel as a juror in the Fourth International Advertising Festival. In other words, if you come up with the best fake ad about fake ads, you’ll be a fake juror—potentially acting as a fake Israeli—at a major awards show. Plus, your fake ad will appear in Forbes Magazine.



Oh, and the project brief perpetuates the exclusivity in the advertising industry, as it is not written in English—unlike the website and ads.


From Ads of the World.

6077: Stereotypical Exhibition.

If you’re in Chicago between now and January 18, 2009, catch the exhibition at Spertus Museum—Twisted Into Recognition: Clichés of Jews and Others. Here’s the official hype:

Twisted Into Recognition: Clichés of Jews and Others explores the ways images and objects that depict stereotypes are seen, perceived, and classified. Stereotypes and clichés are an integral part of our perception, shaping our image of ourselves and others as well as our sense of belonging to a distinct group or nation apart from others. Through their simplification, these characterizations may help us to overcome our fear of the unknown, but at the same time, serve as a breeding ground for racist ideologies.

Twisted Into Recognition is a multimedia exhibition that juxtaposes historical objects, items from material culture, and contemporary art and film to demonstrate the persistence of stereotypes (whether intentional or supposed) and how they have been subverted for commentary today. This exhibition was organized by the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Jewish Museum Vienna.

Twisted Into Recognition is a cornucopia of cultural clichés, presented in a contemporary and provocative style. The exhibition features a series of mini-galleries covering a range of stereotypes.

On the 10th floor of the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, the show opens with 49 Jewish Noses by Dennis Kardon, a collection of nasal sculptures hanging upon the gallery wall. Accompanying Kardon’s work are other sculptures by Rudolf Beling, Gerd Bauer and Rudi Sopper.

The next installation spotlights Black Venus and Aunt Jemima, with a filmed performance of Josephine Baker, a related painting by Hassan Musa and an Aunt Jemima syrup dispenser from the Jim Crow Museum at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan.

From Jesus Christ to Michael Jackson to Harakiri School Girls, the exhibition covers a lot of cultural ground in a variety of media. There’s even a reference to Bill Bernbach’s iconic “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s real Jewish Rye” advertising campaign. If you can’t experience it all live, try ordering the catalog from Spertus Shop. It’s a $40 hardcover and the text is in German, but the high-quality plates display everything just fine.

Essay 4909

From The Chicago Tribune…

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Is nothing sacred? A seasonal kvetch

Jews getting crowded out of a Christmas Eve tradition

By Barbara Brotman, Tribune staff reporter

How can I put this in a way that does not cause offense?

What are all you non-Jewish people doing at the movies on Christmas Eve?

I mean no disrespect or hostility. But Christmas Eve is approaching, and with it our family’s annual tradition of the Christmas Eve movie. It is a tradition we share with many of our fellow Jews. It is part of the classic Jewish response to the holiday we do not celebrate--Chinese food and a movie.

Christmas Eve at the movies was a beautiful tradition. We would show up at the theater seconds before the show was to begin. We would saunter up to the window and buy a ticket from the poor, bored schlub who had drawn Christmas Eve duty.

We would go to the snack bar, where as the sole customers we would enjoy personal, if depressed, service. Then we would take our seats--really, any seats, since we were often the only people in the theater, unless there was a smattering of other Jews. Then we would stretch out and enjoy the movie, our Christmas Eve tradition observed and thoroughly enjoyed.

But in recent years a dismaying trend has appeared. Movie theaters are now packed on Christmas Eve. We have been reduced to buying our tickets in advance.

Maybe some of the crowding is due to an influx of Hindus or Buddhists. But most of the movie-goers appear to be Christian; some are even wearing Christmas sweaters.

And so I ask my Christian friends and neighbors, as they stream into the multiplex on Christmas Eve: What are you doing here?

Aren’t you supposed to be home in the bosom of your families? Shouldn’t you be trimming trees, roasting chestnuts and singing carols? This beautiful holiday celebrated amid home and family--why are you spending it at the 21-screen?

It seems so wrong. Christmas is a time of tradition. You who observe it decorate your homes, wrap gifts and attend religious services. We who don’t eat cashew chicken and go to see the current equivalent of “Die Hard.” Each group enjoys its special heritage, and we coexist in a spirit of mutual respect.

It doesn’t bother me to be excluded from Christmas, any more than it would bother me to be excluded from a neighbor’s family reunion. It’s just not my party. That’s why I make my own, complete with coming attractions and Jujubes.

But now my party is being crashed. We Jews go to the movies because we have nothing else to do. But you who have plenty of other things to do are now coming to the movies too.

Is this invasion fair? We don’t turn the tables and try to horn in on your traditions. You don’t see us hogging spots on Santa’s knee or buying up all the Christmas lights for our back yards, do you? We respect your rituals. Why not respect ours?

OK, maybe you need a break from wrapping gifts. Maybe you need a break from your families. I can understand. Sometimes we need a break from our families too. Still, you don’t see us skipping High Holiday dinners and crashing your end-of-summer barbecues instead.

And so, a Christmas Eve plea:

Go home, people. Be with your families, and not in the same row in Theater 2. Put your stockings on the mantel, not your drink cup in the holder. A very Merry Christmas to you. And for us, extra salt on the popcorn.

Essay 4898

From The Miami Herald…

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Exhibit traces comic industry’s Jewish origins

By LEONARD PITTS JR.

It was 1940 and the Jews were dying. Shot down on cobblestone streets, starved in barbed-wire enclosures, frozen in winter snows, racked with disease. All seemed lost.

Then, from up in the sky, like a bird, like a plane, came Superman. With ridiculous ease, he captured the tyrants Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. “I’d like to land a strictly non-Aryan sock on your jaw,” the Man of Steel told the Führer. He settled for delivering both men to the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

It did not happen, of course, except in the pages of a short comic-book story in Look magazine in 1940. In real life, Hitler and Stalin lived for years more and consumed millions of lives. But hey, a kid can dream, can’t he?

Visit the Jewish Museum of Florida in Miami Beach between now and April and you will find that Superman tale in an exhibition honoring the dreams of those kids. Of course, they’re not kids anymore. They are men long ago grown old or dead. But in the years of war and rumors of war, they were young men and boys who daydreamed. In the process, they dreamt up an icon as fully expressive of American values as baseball, jazz and a cheeseburger, side of fries, with a large Coke.

He was the superhero. Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive. And Jewish, too.

Indeed, the first superhero, the aforementioned Superman, first published in 1938, was created by two Jewish boys from Cleveland, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Batman followed in 1939, brought to life by two Jewish men, Bob Kane (born Robert Kahn) and Bill Finger. Captain America, born in 1940, was the brainchild of two Jewish artists: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg). In the early 1960s, Kirby, along with writer Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) reinvented the superhero genre with the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Thor, the Hulk and (with a non-Jewish artist named Steve Ditko) Spider-Man. And so on. In fact, one could argue that had there been no Jews, there might have been no superheroes.

Marcia Jo Zerivitz, founder, executive director, and chief curator of the Jewish Museum, says that pioneering role was news to her when she happened to see Zap! Pow! Bam! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books 1938-1950, at The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta a few years ago. “When I saw it,” she says, “I fell in love with it. First of all, I didn’t know that these [characters] were created by Jews. I figured if I didn’t know, a lot of other people aren’t going to know.” So she arranged to bring it to South Florida.

[To read the full story, click here.]