17512: On Juneteenth In Adland 2026.

In Adland 2026, Juneteenth has been impacted by restructurings, redundancies, and RIFs—like White holding companies and White advertising agencies throughout the global industry.

 

The anti-DEIBA+ vibe in Adland means Juneteenth further loses its performative priority, plummeting far below organizational rejiggering, shareholder appeasing, and AI capabilities overhyping.

 

Juneteenth is seemingly deemed redundant to celebratory events such as Black History Month and MLK Day—both of which are also ignored and/or viewed with indifference.

 

In recent years, White holding companies and White advertising agencies have quietly diminished ERGs, downsized DEIBA+ teams, and dismissed Chief Diversity Officers. So, delegating diversity duties for Juneteenth is disregarded.

 

Will Adland ever experience freedom from systemic racism?

17321: MLK Day 2026 In Adland (Cont’d 2).

 

Upon reviewing social media posts, no Adland holding companies acknowledged MLK Day.

 

Some could argue most holding companies are not US enterprises, being headquartered in Japan, France, the UK, etc.; hence, since MLK Day is a US holiday, the foreign-based holding companies had no obligation to salute the event.

 

Not sure what excuses Omnicom or Stagwell might offer to explain the snub. IPG—recognized for leadership in diversity and inclusion—no longer exists, so the former White holding company is absolved of its performative do-gooder duties.

 

In the end, CES trumped MLK.

 

Hell, even ERGs were seemingly deprived of a delegating diversity opportunity.

 

For Adland, the dream continues to be deliberately diverted, delegated, deferred, diminished, dismissed, and denied.

17320: MLK Day 2026 In Adland (Cont’d).

 

President Donald J. Trump acknowledged MLK Day late in the day—after receiving criticism from civil rights groups earlier on Monday that he had failed to recognize the holiday.

 

Based on Omnicom social media, it appears the ginormous White holding company skipped saluting MLK Day, despite being led by Pioneer of Diversity John Wren.

 

Yep, the two Old White Guys continue to earn being named White Man Of The Year 2025.

17319: MLK Day 2026 In Adland.

 

In the past year, Adland saw the erasure of IPG, FCB, DDB, TPN, etc.

 

Add MLK and DEIBA+ to the elimination list.

 

RIP.

16953: BHM 2025—IPG.

 

So far this year, IPG acknowledged MLK Day, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Lunar New Year. However, despite being recognized for leadership in diversity and inclusion—according to its performative PR and gobbledygook—the White holding company has not yet saluted Black History Month.

 

Probably prioritizing pending purchase and pruning…?

 

16925: MLK Day 2025 In Adland (Continued).

 

MLK Day received little—and lame—acknowledgment from White advertising agencies and White holding companies.

 

Omnicom expressed DEIDICATION via a message probably delegated to DEI and ERG teammates.

IPG posted late in the day, promoting performative service and heat shields.

 

 

Ogilvy skipped MLK Day in favor of advocating for climate solutions and cultural equity.

 

For Adland, MLK Day could be renamed MEH Day.

16924: MLK Day 2025 In Adland.

 

The past year has seen dramatically diminishing DEIBA+ commitment from White advertising agencies and White holding companies—as well as decreasing performative PR and heat shields.

 

Relating to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it’s time to revise the DEIBA+ acronym:

 

Dream

Erased

Indefinitely

By

Adland

16570: In Adland, White Women Seize The Day.

Advertising Age spotlighted major brands celebrating International Women’s Day.

 

Don’t recall such enthusiasm from Adland for Black History Month. Oh wait—there was no enthusiasm from Adland for BHM. Or MLK Day. Or Kwanzaa. Or Juneteenth. Or any Black celebratory day of the year—for many, many years.

 

With the exception of Black Friday.

16506: Google Doodle For MLK Day.

 

The Google Doodle for MLK Day 2024—created by Tatyana Alanis—depicts peaceful protesters from the Selma to Montgomery march. The Google 2023 Diversity Annual Report, however, arguably warrants loud protests for the under-representation of Blacks in the company’s workforce.

16505: Greetings From Adland On MLK Day.

 

Seems like only a handful of White advertising agencies and White holding companies bothered to acknowledge MLK Day via social media. The messages are contrived, including the standard sentiments such as:

 

“Today we honor…”

 

“Today, we celebrate…”

 

“As we pay tribute…”

 

Tomorrow, we go back to systemic racism.

 

Hopefully, the companies recognize that the words and images of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are not in the public domain—and the King estate has been paid for usage rights.

 

 

16504: MLK Day 2024 In Adland.

 

To extend the previous year’s Adland theme, MLK Day 2024 could be titled: AI Have A Dream.

 

In context to Adland and the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., AI stands for:

 

Artificial Inclusivity as White advertising agencies continue to deliver performative PR on DEIBA+ commitments—while steadfastly maintaining exclusivity and systemic racism.

 

Artificial Investment as diversity budgets and crumbs are reduced, promises and pledges are reneged, and HBCU promotions are ridiculous.

 

Artificial Interest as Chief Diversity Officers and ERGs are delegated the nettlesome task of drafting annual email tributes to the civil rights icon.

 

Artificial Intelligence as an industry that boasts being in tune with—and at the cutting edge of—pop culture remains culturally clueless.

10654: BHM 2023—TRG.

TRG—the White advertising agency formerly known as The Richards Group—doesn’t have any BHM-related social media posts. Not surprising, as the firm probably wants to steer clear of color commentary and controversy. In January, however, TRG posted an MLK Day tribute. It’s unlikely that founder Stan Richards was involved, as he might have deemed the concept “too Black.”

16108: MLK Day 2023—Considering The Beloved Community In Adland.

 

Here’s another belated MLK Day thought for the day…

 

To commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2023, the King Center presents a celebratory theme: “Cultivating a Beloved Community Mindset to Transform Unjust Systems.” The strategic rationale includes:

 

The pioneering work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. demonstrated that Kingian Nonviolence … is the sustainable solution to injustice and violence in our world, ultimately leading to the creation of the Beloved Community, where injustice ceases and love prevails.

 

The persistent challenge in Adland is that the industry represents a community where the beloved members are ranked according to White privilege. 

 

The U.S. Adland Beloved Community Org Chart looks something like this:

 

 

It’s difficult to create the Beloved Community in an environment where injustice prevails and love ceases to be extended based on one’s proximity to Whiteness.

 

And it sure doesn’t help when such matters are only considered for a single day of the calendar year—if at all.

16103: Happy Belated MLK Day.

 

As annually acknowledged, Ads of the World features advertising collections for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Earth Day, International Women’s Day, April Fool’s Day, and Valentine’s Day—yet nothing for MLK Day.

 

To address the diss, MultiCultClassics presents an MLK Day advertisement from those wonderful folks who gave you systemic racism in Adland.

16100: Noodling Google Doodle For MLK Day 2023.

 

The Google Doodle commemorating MLK Day 2023—created by Brooklyn-based artist Richard A. Chance—shows community members crafting mural art. It should’ve been animated, depicting the characters painting over a billboard for menthol cigarettes, malt liquor, or Mickey D’s.

16098: Overreaction Of The Week.

 

Is it odd for a bank to salute “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s principled life of service” by being closed for the day—denying customers of banking services?

15685: Just Another Day In White Adland…

To underscore the point being made in the previous post, MLK Day presented no commemorative mentions in Adweek and Advertising Age; plus, the “Collections” at Clio’s Ads of the World—despite featuring categories for Chinese New Year, International Women’s Day, Halloween, Girl Power, Donald Trump ads, and more—include no MLK campaigns.

15684: CDO MLK DAY WTF.

 

In Adland, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. receives all the reverence, recognition, regard and respect of a Chief Diversity Officer. Nuff said.