13072: Richards/Lerma Sucks.

This stuff looks like sophomoric scam advertising from portfolio school students. But it’s an actual campaign conceived and created by Richards/Lerma in Dallas, those wonderful folks who gave you talking vaginas for Summer’s Eve. Stay classy, guys.

10275: The Richards Group’s New Rat.

The Richards Group—those wonderful folks who brought you talking vaginas for Summer’s Eve—focused their remarkable rebranding resourcefulness on Chuck E. Cheese. The Dallas-based agency literally transformed the 35-year-old rodent into a rock star. At least they didn’t turn him into a rapper. However, the shop did replace the voiceover talent who handled the cartoon talking task for two decades—and without a formal dismissal notice. The guy discovered he lost the gig after hearing the latest Chuck E. Cheese song online. The Richards Group recruited the lead singer of a real pop-punk band to perform the renewed rat role. Sounds like grounds for a potential ageism lawsuit. Regardless, look forward to catching Chuck E. Cheese in concert with an opening act starring The Singing Vajayjays.

7682: MetroPCS VP ASS.

Jim Edwards at BNET reported that MetroPCS produced more offensive shit featuring stereotypical characters Ranjit and Chad. Additionally, the telecommunications company is declaring the work has increased sales. Check out Edwards’ full story.

“There have been many positive responses by people who find the commercials humorous, as it was originally intended,” said Bob Fant, MetroPCS vice president of advertising and brand development. “There also have been some reactions from those who have taken offense. The positive reactions have heavily outnumbered the negative ones.”

Sorry, but Fant is a moron. Of course there will be more fans than haters—that’s the nature of being in the minority. Too bad Fant doesn’t realize unhappy minorities can hold greater influence than the ignorant majority. But hey, that’s what happens when you’re taking advice from a predominately White and culturally clueless advertising agency.

7625: Delayed WTF 4—The Home Depot Fiasco.

Over the past few months, MultiCultClassics has been occupied with real work. As a result, a handful of events occurred without the expected blog commentary. This limited series—Delayed WTF—seeks to make belated amends for the absence of malice.

Based on an Advertising Age story from last month, it appears the Richards Group and The Home Depot teamed up to build a Latino advertising agency. And you thought the home improvement retailer was only good for constructing patios, kitchens and bathrooms.

The Home Depot staged a pitch for its Latino advertising chores, setting up competition between major minority shops—including the incumbent Vidal Partnership. But in the end, the $37 million account went to Richards/Lerma, the Latino division of Home Depot’s White agency. To be fair, Richards/Lerma was not created from scratch during the review. According to its website, the sub-agency has been producing work for a few clients. However, nothing on the Richards/Lerma reel would ever make it onto the Richards Group reel—or the Vidal Partnership reel, for that matter. Additionally, the place doesn’t look very busy, as leader Pete Lerma also runs the Richards Group’s digital agency.

Now, this is hardly the first time a White agency has outmaneuvered established minority shops by introducing an enterprise that would be deemed unqualified under any other circumstances. Omnicom pulled a similar stunt when stealing winning multicultural duties on Nissan. Other White agencies like Modernista don’t even bother cobbling together minority ventures when grabbing assignments typically reserved for cultural specialists.

From just about every angle imaginable, these scenarios suck. Clients seem to be saying the premier multicultural shops are not significantly better than a group of relatively unknown folks occupying segregated cubicles within a White agency. On the flipside, White agencies that struggle to diversify their own hallways apparently have no difficulty finding minorities when they need, well, minorities. But if White ad executives are tasked with hiring minorities to handle general market campaigns, there are zero candidates available, and recruiting focuses on inner-city students.

To properly cover up such scandals, simply visit The Home Depot website right here.