This Mass Mutual commercial hypes empowering Hispanic business owners, presumably to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month. Except the credits show it was created by Grey—a White advertising agency—which is sort of a slap in the face to Hispanic-owned agencies, no?
Later learned the following from HispanicAd.com:
“At the end of 2018, WPP parent corporation of Grey decided based on pressure from key clients like Procter & Gamble, that multicultural talent needs to be integrated in all vertical and horizontal levels in the agency structure. WING employees and talent will be integrated under the Grey New York agency and will not function as a separate division within the WPP and Grey Network.”
And here’s the hype from WPP.com:
“Wing (formerly known as WingLatino) is a leading full-service marketing communications agency focused on the intersection of the U.S. Hispanic, Latin American and general markets. Founded in 1979 as one of the pioneering agencies in Hispanic marketing, today we are re-imagining what it means to be an agency in the Latino space. Our client roster includes some of the world’s most recognizable brands and we are headquartered in New York with offices in Miami. For a look at who we are and what inspires us, visit www.insidewing.com”
In short, it appears that a once-independent Hispanic shop was absorbed into Grey by WPP, appeasing alleged demands from clients such as Procter & Gamble to diversify the White advertising agency.
Can’t help but wonder about the truth behind the scenario. Did WingLatino lose its minority-owned status—along with a website that has seemingly disappeared? Are the former WingLatino employees really integrated? Do they receive equal opportunities—and salaries—versus White Grey peers? Are the cross-cultural efforts fully cross-functional, or must the Hispanic staffers deliver segregated services with crumbs for marketing budgets?
Mass Mutual gushes over empowering Hispanic business owners. Did WPP and Grey empower Hispanic business owners—or overpower them into assuming second-class citizenship?
¿Qué pasa?
Hispanic ad agencies are dead, and have been dead since the holding companies started clawing back their crumbs by claiming they themselves could do Total Market work.
ReplyDeleteThey ate up all the Hispanic jobs and starved them out in the last 3-5 years.
The few that are left are shells. They have a have a handful of people in an office in the United States, but the back ends are all running out of Argentina, sometimes Mexico or Colombia, to keep costs low. So no minorities in the BIPOC sense, just offshore contractors.