(MultiCultClassics credits ESPN’s C’MON MAN! for sparking this semi-regular blog series.)
Don’t mean to dampen the cheery mood generated by the “Where Are All The Black People?” event, but Goodby Silverstein & Partners co-founder Jeff Goodby still has a long way to go—to use a popular phrase uttered in most Madison Avenue diversity discussions. The recent Adweek interview tells the tale.
Goodby opened by stating, “It’s a total enigma that Black people have not been represented in advertising, especially since African Americans are so influential culturally, especially in popular culture.” Is it really a total enigma for the adman? Plus, his popular culture reference seemed rather enigmatic, especially considering his hiring of a Curator of Popular Culture for GS&P was essentially an act of cronyism—and he wound up giving the job to an old White woman. Then again, maybe Barbara Lippert clued him in on Black influence of pop culture.
Glad to hear Goodby found the first multicultural gathering organized by The One Club to be “a really heartwarming experience.” His warm-and-fuzzy reaction sharply contrasts the experiences of too many Blacks whose encounters with Madison Avenue led to hearts breaking and blood boiling.
Goodby’s gender-related comments were interesting too, particularly his admission that women are “numerous in media and account services and are hardly there in creative.” Yeah, a few chicks would have come in handy when his agency hatched the disastrous “Got PMS?” milk campaign.
To be clear, MultiCultClassics recognizes Goodby is making progress, and that’s always a good thing worthy of praise. Hell, the man will likely join Dan Wieden in nabbing an ADCOLOR® Award—long before any of the Black adpeople who made actual contributions to industry diversity are honored. But this blog’s standards for cultural competence rival Goodby’s standards for advertising excellence. So for now, he’s just earned his fourth appearance in this special series.
C’MON WHITE MAN!
What has jeff goodby done to change the culture at his agency? Look in the damn mirror. Ask yourself would you want to work for a racist, even if they were paying good money. Seems like a lot of agencies are putting on a fake "we welcome you". They either wont hire blacks or if they do hire them to sweep the floor or run the front desk, they usually are isolated in a all-white enviornment. Jeff is a liar and a fraud.
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