Essay 1486

In March 2005, DiversityInc.com criticized Advertising Age and Adweek for doing a lousy job of presenting diverse editorial and imagery. MultiCultClassics reported on it way back in Essay Fourteen, and even offered suggestions in Essay Seventeen.

This recollection surfaced after perusing the competitors’ 2006 review issues (depicted above).

As recently detailed in Essay 1452 and Essay 1457, Advertising Age ranked the industry’s diversity problems as the second biggest story of the year, right behind the fiasco involving DraftFCB and Wal-Mart. Additionally, New York City Commission on Human Rights leader Patricia Gatling and Jay-Z were named among “10 Who Made Their Mark” in the business. Over the past year, Advertising Age has often been clumsy and clueless; however, their willingness to engage cultural topics deserves a certain degree of respect.

On the other hand, Adweek appears completely oblivious to anything non-White. Their year-in-review coverage made no mention of the diversity problems. Nada. Zero. Zilch. The closest Adweek gets to Black culture involves a cameo by Ali G. And despite the exploding Latino market that brought dramatic growth to multicultural agencies, the trade magazine only saw fit to briefly highlight ABC series Ugly Betty — but just in Barbara Lippert’s inane essay on the alleged shifts in beauty standards. Of course, Adweek also failed to note parent company VNU’s decision to dissolve Marketing y Medios.

Instead, Adweek unloaded major advertisers’ media spending, a painfully obvious “The Top 10 Ideas Of 2006” countdown, a dreadfully dull interview with IPG CEO Michael Roth, outdated viewpoints by prehistoric writers, corny Q&As and the obligatory “What’s In, What’s Out” chart.

Somebody please start 2007 already.

[Click on the essay title above to review Essay Seventeen.]