The online recap of the final episode of AMC series Mad Men—Person to Person—featured no persons of color. Ironically, the show ended with the classic Coca-Cola “Hilltop” commercial from 1971, which celebrated diversity. Mad Men ultimately and accurately reflected today’s advertising industry by singing about inclusiveness, yet doing absolutely nothing to realize the vision. Have a Coke and a smile—while making a tax-deductible donation to ADCOLOR®.
I've had talks with people in Adcolor and other diversity initiatives. My conclusion: These people are setup to give the "illusion of inclusion." They are just fakes and phonies.
ReplyDeleteAll those ethnic diversity initiatives are starting to fade because Cyrus Mehri and the Madison Ave Project aren't a threat to the agencies now.
ReplyDeleteThe "diversity" consultants and Adcolor awards will be gone soon, they're already starting to replace them with 3% Conference workshops and women power conferences instead.
As long as the holding companies keep hiding their hiring numbers, nobody cares that you can count the number of black creatives nationwide on one hand.
It's true. The diversity and inclusion programs are being quietly dismantled this year. The ethnic vp's and consultants are getting pushed to part time or let go all together. I saw it first hand.
ReplyDeleteThese minority diversity officers or consultants are nothing more than useless pawns. If your not trying to increase diversity, what the hell are they hiring you to do? They are enablers of racism and discriminatory hiring practices.
ReplyDeleteThey're not hired to increase diversity. They're hired to stand there at diversity events so the holding companies can snap a photo and then put one line in their annual reports that reads, "We continued our strong commitment to diversity by supporting Here Are All The Black People, multiple mixers, Adcolor, etc."
ReplyDeleteRead between the lines and those annual reports and press releases never ever EVAH mention how many they hired or gave a leg up to, because the number is zero.
Start asking for numbers and proof, then they've got a problem.
"If you're not trying to increase diversity, what the hell are they hiring you to do?"
ReplyDeleteAnswer? Read this:
http://filesomnicomgroup.omnicomlink.com/ReportManagement/UploadedFiles/130730022884057439.pdf
Look at how the Omnicom shareholders are actively requesting, just a few days ago, that Omnicom disclose its diversity hiring numbers.
Then look at how Omnicom's board members respond. With a smokescreen. Using Tiffany R. Warren as a live heatshield. They literally state that they don't have to, and shouldn't have to, because:
"Omnicom employs a Director of Diversity or Chief Diversity Officer at each of our networks" (they leave out that these people have no power, and do nothing, and hire no one. They are just heatshields.)
"Our Chief Executive Officer, John Wren, was honored as a pioneer and supporter of diversity by the American Advertising Federation at their 2013 Diversity Achievement and Mosaic Awards" (they leave out that Mosaic is just ad agencies and holding companies mutually patting each other on the back so they can dodge shareholder requests like the one above).
"Omnicom supports ADCOLOR" (the leave out that ADCOLOR does nothing and, like Mosaic Awards, is just ad agencies and holding companies mutually back patting)
THAT'S what the hell they're hired to do. Just stand there like useless lumps 364 days a year so that on this one day, when the shareholders come together, holding companies can dodge and obscure the numbers.
Well, the white women are all rallying together on twitter, linkedin and other social media. They even call out and blast white agency leaders too. Every week theirs a white women ECD or CD being hired consistently, they have a sustained movement focused squarely on hiring. They don't play around. They hold events every month I dont see any black or hispanic movement focused on hiring. And the black leaders you do have dont want to get involved, and push any buttons. All they do is setup college bootcamps and maybe a 5 week internships, which are meaningless, then the cycle repeats every 4-7 years, and the hiring #s will remain low. I visited some agencies and pets and animals outnumber the minority folks. The advertising industry is so far behind the rest of society when it comes to race relations, its sad. How can so many people turn a blind eye for so many years, and it not effect their moral compass is a disgrace to the human race.
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