Advertising Age Editor-in-Chief Rance Crain published a column titled, “Merger Works For Omnicom, Publicis; Why Not U.S., Mexico?” Crain wondered if combining the two countries would help solve the problems connected with undocumented workers in the U.S. It’s unlikely Crain was completely serious in asking the title question, so here’s a not-completely-serious response.
The key and critical differences between a merger involving Omnicom and Publicis Groupe and a merger involving the U.S. and Mexico are rooted in culture, race, ethnicity and morality. Omnicom President and CEO John Wren and Publicis Groupe Chairman and CEO Maurice Lévy are essentially two Old White Guys—dos amigos (or gringos)—hooking up to make stupid money and inflate stupider egos. Contrary to the PR hype, Publicis Omnicom Groupe doesn’t give a flying fuck about the minions in the new network, especially the non-White populace. In fact, most of the U.S.-French holding company’s minorities are woefully underrepresented and filed into “multicultural” units where they receive less respect and far less compensation than their majority counterparts; in short, they are second-class citizens in every sense of the term. However, given the advertising industry’s existing power structure, it’s totally okay for two White men to orchestrate an exclusive alliance of two White corporations that further diminishes and ultimately disregards the welfare of non-White folks. On the flipside, if two White emperors attempted to merge their countries, resulting in the segregation and marginalization of minority groups, the very proposal would be condemned and rejected.
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