9637: MultiCultClassics Moments For 2011.

January: Advertising Age opened the month with a fluff piece on BrandLab, eliciting commentary from MultiCultClassics and industry icon Roy Eaton. Meanwhile, the comment thread turned ugly at AgencySpy for a post on GlobalHue. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. commented on Madison Avenue. No comments were required when examining the official diversity statements from Campbell-Ewald, Draftfcb, DDB, JWT, Ogilvy, Euro RSCG, McCann Worldgroup, PHD, Kaplan Thaler Group, Avrett Free Ginsberg, WPP, Gotham, Merkley + Partners, Havas, a handful of shops without diversity statements, IPG, Leo Burnett, Publicis, Deutsch, MDC Partners and Omnicom. Tiffany Edwards, education and diversity director for The One Club, left a comment in response to MultiCultClassics’ critique of the exclusive awards organization. Steffan Postaer kicked off a new series—“C’mon White Man!”—with a self-absorbed salute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Black Enterprise saluted Blacks in the advertising business, although the publication could only name four creatives in White firms. And Advertising Age closed the month with a bunch of articles exposing the dismal state of diversity, prompting commentary from Harry Webber.

February: Black History Month offered its share of historical and hysterical moments. Alex Bogusky landed the second installment of “C’mon White Man!”—by launching a new enterprise that looked like the common White enterprises. Summer’s Eve senior brand manager Angela Bryant publicly apologized for an offensive promotion which inevitably seemed tame compared to what would be unveiled in the near future. Jeff Goodby made his inaugural debut in “C’mon White Man!”—by executing a blatant mercy hire of Barbara Lippert as his shop’s curator of pop culture. Marian Salzman became the first female to be honored in “C’mon White Man!” Groupon aired its premier TV campaign during the Super Bowl, earning a championship trophy for insensitivity and ignorance worldwide. A Draftfcb douchebag duo designed an app to meet chicks—and hooked up as losers for “C’mon White Man!” JWT New York followed the Draftfcb dimwits with agency-wide recognition in the “C’mon White Man!” series. Craig Brimm authored a multicultural marketing manifesto, urging minority shops to avoid becoming Black history. An ex-Publicis executive filed a $100 million gender bias suit against the holding company, mere months before Publicis Groupe Chairman-CEO Maurice Levy proclaimed he was seeking an adman as his successor.

March: Rich Silverstein introduced “One Job for America”—although it wasn’t clear if the Lippert mercy hire fulfilled his agency’s quota for the endeavor. Y&R and the UNCF celebrated the 40th anniversary of the famous “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste” campaign—although Madison Avenue has failed to embrace diversity for over 70 years. IPG CEO Michael Roth, WPP CEO Martin Sorrell and Omnicom CEO John Wren admitted their corporations are awful in regards to talent recruitment—although the three stooges were referring to White talent. The Institute for Advertising Ethics shat out its “Principles and Practices of Advertising”—although Shona Siefert’s “Proposed Code of Ethics for the Advertising Industry” was much better (and it was written by a convicted criminal!).

April: Pabst was blasted for concocting Colt 45 Blast with Snoop Dogg. The only other thing worth mentioning was a lawyer’s perspective in Advertising Age titled, “Seven Legal Issues That Agencies Should Be Thinking About in 2011.” Of course, the list did not include diversity.

May: The Top Ten Earners in Advertising are—surprise, surprise—all White men. “Where Are All The Black People?” resulted in Jeff Goodby offering a scholarship to send Black ad students to the land of all the White people. Ogilvy North American Chairman John Seifert, Ogilvy North American CCO Steve Simpson and StrawberryFrog CEO Scott Goodson perpetuated all the White male hiring and firing practices that prohibit progress on Madison Avenue all the time.

June: Peter Madden felt inspired by a young minority’s character—but not inspired enough to consider, say, hiring more minorities. Tiffany Rolfe felt inspired to speak out on the dearth of women in agency creative departments—but not inspired enough to consider, say, hiring more women. Summer’s Eve felt inspired to try a viral video approach to selling vajayjay cleansers—but not inspired enough to consider, say, firing the advertising agency that ultimately turned the brand into the laughingstock of the year.

July: Goodby Silverstein & Partners produced the “Got PMS?” milk campaign and received responses that made PMS sufferers look calm—plus, Jeff Goodby received a record third “C’mon White Man!” acknowledgement. Jim Glover published “Mad Man” and received a review from Pepper Miller and a reaction from Harry Webber. Ogilvy & Mather dabbled in cross-cultural marketing and received indifferent yawns. Summer’s Eve fully exposed its “Hail to the V” campaign and received instant condemnation. A D&AD-sponsored panel at Cannes 2011 discussed diversity in advertising and received a critique from MultiCultClassics for their contrived and clichéd thinking—as well as their displaying a White Pencil throughout the proceedings. Bob Hoffman bemoaned the complainers of offensive advertising and received a few complaints himself. Oh, and Draftfcb received the pink slip of the millennium from SC Johnson.

August: Rich Silverstein ripped off a logo—and won an award at Cannes for his thieving style. Donny Deutsch defended a woman’s right to be a Sugar Baby—the perfect position for an aging adulterer to take. Draftfcb and NIVEA told Black men how to become civilized—in a totally uncivilized fashion.

September: R/GA proved it regularly hires women of color, provided they’re exotic dancers. Uncle Ben quietly returned, yet he’s no longer a corporate honcho with a fancy office. JWT promoted itself as a true international agency, apparently hoping to fool people into believing a global network equals diversity. JWT Atlanta hyped itself as diverse via the Bill Sharp Award, a scholarship program for—you guessed it—minority students. Dan Wieden won an ADCOLOR® Award—now that’s fucked up! A fake letter from John Wren revealed the real racism on Madison Avenue.

October: The logo for Advertising Week 2011 was brainless. The sequel to “Where Are All The Black People?” failed to answer its own question. Jeff Goodby is on a “C’mon White Man!” hot streak. However, Donny Deutsch is making a serious run to overtake Goodby’s lead. Michael Wolff tried to reinvent Adweek, but should have started by familiarizing himself with the industry. The 4As officially asked members to stop being racist.

November: Walmart marketing wonk Tony Rogers declared advertisers should “blow up” their multicultural marketing budgets. Um, somebody tell Tony the majority of advertisers don’t have multicultural marketing budgets. TBWA\Toronto shot an autobiographical documentary in a Nigerian Nollywood style, complete with an all-African cast. Um, guess there weren’t enough mailroom attendants at the shop to cover the roles. Burrell Communications sought to bash cross-cultural marketing with research results questioning its effectiveness. Um, this amounts to a battle over crumbs, no? A study indicated IPG hasn’t paid taxes for at least three years. Um, IPG, meet IRS.

December: New York City Councilman Larry Seabrook enjoyed a mistrial in his corruption case. The obscene part is, diversity advocate Seabrook went to court long before Cyrus Mehri will pin charges on Madison Avenue crooks. Additionally, the month witnessed an amazing example of Corporate Cultural Collusion and karmic payback. In 2007, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners won the $1.4 billion Sprint account—probably due in part to its Omnicom ties that have led to plenty of shifty moves through the years. The agency found itself on the other side of the equation, however, as it suddenly lost the communications client without a review. The “winning” advertising agency isn’t even an advertising agency. Digitas Chicago suddenly assumed command, despite having no actual experience producing anything besides clickable banners. How did it happen? White male bonding between new Sprint CMO Bill Malloy and Digitas Chicago President Tony Weisman. Industry buffs know Weisman as a key player in the 2006 Walmart-Draftfcb-Julie Roehm debacle.

Happy New Year.