More About Advertising spotlighted a recruitment stunt by AnalogFolk that wonders if prominent White men in Adland would have enjoyed the same success had they been White women. Probably not—but their female versions would have been waaaaay more successful than if they were Black or Brown.
If John Hegarty was a woman… AnalogFolk’s cross-gender recruitment experiment
By Emma Hall
If these famous advertising blokes had been born women, would they have reached the same heights? AnalogFolk is having fun with a serious question using images of some of our best-known creative leaders — all male, of course — in she/her mode.
“Would Jane Hegarty have been allowed to zag?” “Nelly Leonard: why is she so uncommon?” “Would anyone listen to Aurora Sutherland?” As part of its own search for a new creative leader, the agency is building an open source talent pool of female creatives which they will make available for everyone across the industry to use and share, with the aim of helping to change the status quo.
Senior women tend to get an outsized share of airtime in media and at events. Of course it’s right to raise their profile as role models, but let’s not forget the real statistics: only 17% of ECDs in advertising are women (D&AD 2024), and DE&I progress is stalling or coming to a halt, according to Campaign’s latest research.
Last year the same agency created a tongue-in-cheek guidebook for working class people trying to make it in a middle class industry. Social mobility in advertising is another area of painfully slow progress, but it’s good to know that people are still trying.
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