Thursday, May 04, 2023

16240: Does CMO & CDO Tenure Extend Racists’ Tenure In Adland?

 

Spencer Stuart—a firm specializing in leadership consulting—released its 19th Annual CMO Tenure Study.

 

The data shows greater gender and racial/ethnic diversity among Fortune 500 and top 100 advertiser CMOs—although the numbers seem to indicate the biggest benefactors of the alleged progress are White women.

 

But the most interesting graphic (depicted above) displays CMO tenure at only 4.2 years—and Chief Diversity Officers occupying the bottom slot at a pathetic 2.7 years.

 

In short, the roles that could affect change in Adland—CMOs demanding diversity from White advertising agencies and CDOs fostering transformation within White advertising agencies—are not around long enough to make a difference.

 

All of which infinitely lengthens the presence of systemic racism.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Spencer Stuart's BS list is disingenuous because it conflates the international elite class with "racial and ethnic diversity."

Sorry, but there is a world of difference between the privileged 1% class of Nigeria or India or Argentina stepping into a CMO role, and underrepresented BIPOC in the U.S.

Counting elite global executives as "minorities" just because they're from foreign countries makes just as much sense as saying that because the president of Ghana is black, racism in America is solved.