Adweek presented a fluff piece titled, “Q&A: How Leo Burnett’s CEO and CCO Built a Creative Powerhouse in 10 Years.” Um, when did Leo Burnett become a creative powerhouse? Creative outhouse would be a more accurate descriptor. Worldwide CEO Tom Bernardin used the word “diverse” twice, with neither instance applying to actual diversity. For example, when discussing his shop’s evolution over the last ten years, Bernardin boasted, “It was an organization that was really managed almost entirely from people based in Chicago—which was OK at the time—to one now that is very geographically diverse.” Yep, he achieved geographic diversity in a decade. Racial, ethnic and cultural diversity, however, will require at least 66 years to accomplish. Bernardin also gushed, “I’m proud of how diverse the agency is today in terms of a management team…” A peek at the Leaders page on the agency website shows Bernardin is either culturally clueless or colorblind.
1 comment:
It's curious how that Like a Girl campaign, which is whiter than white, is held up as the one example of "diversity" that agencies are most proud of.
White feminism is the one acceptable kind of diversity this year. I wonder what 2016 holds. Elderly white diversity on tap next?
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