Advertising Age reported that the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity honored Publicis Groupe for its “Working With Cancer Pledge,” handing the White holding company a shiny Health Grand Prix for Good. Hey, don’t most creative people insist that good is the enemy of great?
Regardless, the spectacle warrants critical commentary, especially since the award was presented on the same day that celebrates Juneteenth.
First, it’s rather outrageous that the man who banned his White advertising agencies from participating in award shows like Cannes in 2018—in order to fund the creation of an AI doodad—did not hesitate to enter his pet project for a trophy. Did the wondrous Marcel assemble the creative teams behind the “Working With Cancer Pledge” concept? Doubt it.
Second, and related to the first point, did the oh-so-philanthropic Caucasian conglomerate ponder diverting the exorbitant amount of money spent on award show entries and related events—as well as the award-winning campaign—to make a charitable donation to cancer research, where it would have done far greater good? Doubt it.
Third, while Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun’s personal battle with cancer certainly deserves sympathy and compassion, leveraging the experience to hatch promotional propaganda arguably demonstrates the pinnacle of White privilege.
After all, it’s common knowledge that cancer adversely affects people of color at much higher rates than Whites—and White millionaires. What’s more, people of color with cancer face a double whammy via limited access to biased and substandard healthcare. Oh, and there’s the triple whammy of being crippled by lesser employment opportunities—as evidenced by their dismal underrepresentation in Adland. This segment of global society doesn’t enjoy the luxury of encountering unfairness at the workplace based on their condition. In short, the larger number of people stricken with cancer do not hold the political power and class clout to do what Sadoun did. To clarify for the culturally clueless and simply ignorant, power and class are at the root of systemic racism.
Did any of these facts ever cross the minds of Sadoun and his creative crew? Doubt it.
Fourth, did anyone at Publicis Groupe consider applying similar effort and resources to address DE&I? When the head honcho gets cancer, it’s all hands on deck. But confronting the inequality that has ravaged the industry like a cancer for decades only receives heat shields and crumbs. Does anybody employed by Publicis see the bullshit hypocrisy associated with the self-absorbed stunt? Doubt it.
Sorry to overreact, but it’s sickening to see professionals play their race-based privilege card to launch maneuvers such as “Working With Cancer Pledge”—while consistently failing to make good on diversity, equity, and inclusion pledges. Of that there is no doubt.
‘Working With Cancer Pledge’ By Publicis Wins Cannes Health Grand Prix For Good
The initiative created a global cross-industry coalition to end the stigma of cancer in the workplace
By Tim Nudd
“Working With Cancer Pledge,” an initiative to end the stigma of cancer in the workplace, originally inspired by Publicis Groupe Chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun’s own fight against the disease was honored with the Health Grand Prix for Good at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Monday night.
Sadoun had surgery in 2022 to remove a cancerous tumor in his neck and underwent preventative radiation and chemotherapy. He worked through his treatment and told the world about his diagnosis, but soon realized not everyone feels empowered to do the same, and decided to take action.
Supported by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Macmillan Cancer Research and the Gustave Roussy Institute, the initiative challenges companies around the globe to pledge to build open, supportive and recovery-forward work cultures for their employees. Sadoun launched the pledge in January at Davos in partnership with the World Economic Forum, inviting some of the world’s most influential companies to join and outline their own commitments to cancer patients in their organizations at workingwithcancerpledge.com.
The campaign is credited to a number of Publicis agencies, including La Foundation Publicis in Chicago, Publicis Conseil in Paris, Le Truc in New York, Digitas in New York, Saatchi & Saatchi Health in New York and Publicis Groupe UK in London.
The initiative quickly garnered the support of global organizations such as Bank of America, Disney, Google, L’Oréal, LVMH, Marriott, McDonald’s, Merck, Meta, Mondelēz, Nestlé, Omnicom Group, PepsiCo, Sanofi, Toyota, Unilever, Verizon and Walmart.
“If those guys are capable of signing the pledge immediately it means that they’re already doing a lot of things for people with cancer, but people within their own company don’t know it,” Sadoun told Ad Age in January. “We’re trying to tackle a very big challenge, which is the stigma of cancer in the workplace, with a pretty simple solution, which is only to change perception.”
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