Adfreak reported on “The Fearless Girl” statue erected by McCann New York as part of a diverted diversity demonstration for State Street Global Advisors. While discussing the sculptor who created the statue, McCann Senior Art Director Lizzie Wilson said, “It was very important to us to work with a female team. We really wanted a female artist to be part of this. We wanted a female photographer. We wanted as much female leadership represented as possible, and as many female hands on the project as possible.” Okay, well that explains why White advertising agencies like McCann didn’t produce similarly elaborate work for Black History Month in February. Identifying and assembling a Black team would have been nearly impossible.
"It was very important to us to work with a female team. We really wanted a female artist to be part of this. We wanted a female photographer."
ReplyDeleteAmazing how not a single agency I've ever encountered extends the same creative courtesy to ads that feature or target black and brown Americans.
I've personally seen entire elaborate, expensive TV campaigns that "just happen" to air during Black History Month and "just happen" to feature an entirely black cast be written, produced, directed and edited by entirely white teams.
Same for photo shoots, same for "urban" advertising, same for the radio ads and the print ads.
No one at an ad agency ever stops to passionately defend the rights of the ETHNIC people being targeted, to have some say in the message being created, like they do for women (mostly white women) to be given room to participate.
And if they do, you can bet it'll be on a $150 BHM print ad, not a massively expensive and elaborate Wall Street creative project.