Essay 795

Two more comments for the story about racism and exclusivity in the industry presented on AdAge.com (see Essays 722 and 708)…

>I am a marketing professional of 11 years, during which I strived to become ad agency professional. I was acknowledged as one of the Most Promising Advertising Students in 2002 by the American Advertising Federation. The Most Promising program presented the opportunity for students to meet with some of the top ad agencies at that time. From my experience, I believe not only race presented an issue, but also gender and age. As far as race being focused on, the definition of minority has been redefined from African American to Hispanic. This is my Opinion. — Akron, OH

>It’s a combination of many of the things you brought up. I was in an ad agency and as a person of color, I just didn’t really feel they were that interested in me staying. Yes, it was partially the pay — why not stick it out and try to make a change within, but when the pay is crap, what’s the point — AND when you can just jump over to the client side for double your pay — why bother? As for the prejudice — it’s there — otherwise we wouldn’t have to have black agencies, hispanic & asian agencies ... but I also understand it because you’re selling hard so your belief is that you need to emulate what the client looks & talks like ... whether you’re selling jets or golf balls — there is that belief ... but it seems out of touch in the 21st century. If a black guy cannot pitch your creative to a client in Louisiana, who’s the idiot now? It’s also because advertising requires people to form close bonds as teams, so of course, people tend to gravitate towards people like them and exclude those not in the clique — it starts subtly like who gets invited to watch a game at their house, a BBQ and goes from there ... so it’s hard to say who should or should not be your after-work friends, but when the agency starts to pick advancements or team projects based on that — it’s not flat-out racism but it certainly is not based on merit or even giving an opportunity to someone while someone else gets mentoring or many opportunities to get it right. If agencies out there now haven’t fixed it — they need to, but that’s why advertising is fast becoming irrelevant and out of touch with today’s society — because 90% of the ads are white frat boy ads based on humor of Dave Letterman, Mad magazine & SNL ... and the rest have to be filled in with “specialized” agencies ... who “really” understand anyone who’s not Johnny Knoxville. Just look at the client side marketing managers — ad agencies are still in the 1950’s when America was homogenized, so it was okay for agencies to be homogenized, but everyone else (even hockey) has moved beyond the old boys network ... — Danville, CA