Essay 1876

A single online comment to the Advertising Age story presented in Essay 1862, followed by random MultiCultClassics musings…

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What about increasing the starting salaries to attract more minorities? Engineers easily command $50-60K salaries upon graduation. MIS majors easily earn $55K starting out. Finance majors easily earn $50K. Petroleum Engineers easily earn $80K. Advertising pays between $21-30K starting out. — Bedford, TX

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First, Advertising Age deserves credit for its commitment to reporting on the industry’s diversity dilemmas.

At the same time, the latest story leads to more questions than answers. And it may actually spotlight key issues in the drama.

In terms of minorities, it appears that the ad world has old-timers and newbies. Yet there are virtually zero mid-level executives. It’s as if an entire generation doesn’t exist. And according to the findings by New York City’s Commission on Human Rights, the old-timers and newbies are in short supply too.

No disrespect to Doug Alligood — especially given that his historical efforts are clearly great and noble — but the man is 73 years old. He’s not exactly the typical senior-level executive. Although it would be interesting to hear the true tales this gentleman has to tell.

Erika Emeruwa is equally unique, although for different reasons. She said, “I pretty much grew up as the only African-American kid in my classes.” In many respects, the exclusive advertising industry may be a natural and comfortable progression for her. But what about students accustomed to integrated environments — or heaven forbid, graduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities?

Alligood and Emeruwa ultimately symbolize a notion that may be lost on the common Advertising Age subscriber: Blacks have as much “diversity” in their ranks as any other group. Will readers recognize this? Or will most folks view Alligood and Emeruwa as proof that minorities are represented on Madison Avenue, and perhaps the diversity problems are not as bad as we think?

Then again, based on the fact that the story only drew one comment, does anyone even continue to give a shit about the topic?