10671: Explaining White Chief Diversity Officers.

Job search platform Zippia published the charts depicted above and below, indicating that the majority of Chief Diversity Officers are female (54.5% female vs. 45.5% male) and White (with the race and ethnicity percentages closely reflecting the exclusivity in Adland).

 

The figures are not specifically for Adland—but for the sake of this post, pretend that the charts provide an accurate portrayal of the CDO makeup in the advertising industry.

 

While the industry has presented PR-friendly optics—i.e., delegating the role to people of color—there are plenty of considerations that might explain the dominance of White women and White men serving as CDOs, including also being:

 

• Members of the LGBTQI community

 

• People with disabilities

 

• Neurodiverse individuals

 

• Military veterans

 

• Senior citizens

 

From there, other probable explanations include:

 

• Appointing via favoritism, nepotism, or cronyism

 

• Attaching the title and duties to a resident HR employee

 

• Holding a firm belief in “diversity of thought”

 

• Awarding the position to very progressive White man (extraordinarily rare)

 

• Allocating diversity budget for scholarship and mentorship programs—whereby the CDO title is handed to the White person who hatched the educational scheme

 

• White women satisfy diversity requirements

 

• White advertising agencies love systemic racism