17628: On Powerade’s Performative Poppycock.

Advertising Age reported on Powerade—via Ogilvy, WPP Open X, and WPP Production—taking a performative stand against the Sydney Sweeney Novig campaign.

It’s dim-witted divertsity, divertorial, and divertisement drivel.

As previously noted, a naked Sweeney plays perfectly to the young male-dominated Novig audience.

On the flipside, who is Powerade appealing to? The social post depicted above addresses an exclusive bunch.

Most Powerade fans wouldn’t know Ogilvy, WPP Open X, or WPP Production. Hell, the majority of WPP drones display indifference to the segregated silos.

Powerade brags about its alleged legacy of supporting women’s sports. Okay, does The Coca-Cola Company award the average woman athlete the same $pokesperson contract as her male commercial counterpart? Don’t bet on it.

Powerade continues to run a distant second to Gatorade. And now the brand is striking out against Sweeney’s curves.

Powerade rebukes Novig’s nearly naked Sydney Sweeney ads

By Jon Springer

Powerade has delivered a response to Novig’s scantily clad Sydney Sweeney campaign: women’s sports have never been “just” sports. The Coca-Cola-owned sports drink brand is joining the backlash against the prediction market company’s controversial creative with its own digital outdoor ads that celebrate women athletes’ determination and resilience. Supported by content on Powerade’s social channels, the work turns Novig’s “Just Sports” slogan into a rebuke of the ads that have been criticized for sexualizing women in sports.

Ogilvy, part of WPP’s dedicated Coke agency, Open X, touted the campaign in a social media post today that emphasized Powerade’s history of supporting female athletes. The post depicts the response running in Times Square with an adjacent image of the Novig ad.

“When the conversation around how women are portrayed in sports started to pick up, we felt it was important for Powerade to share our perspective and reinforce what’s always been at the heart of our brand: athletes,” Leah Macko, Powerade’s VP of brand marketing, said in a statement.

“We’ve long believed that there’s no ‘just’ about what it takes to compete, especially for women in sports, so we saw this as an opportunity to celebrate the determination, resilience and impact female athletes bring to their sport,” she said.

Novig’s “Just Sports” campaign, which launched Sept. 9, features Sweeney appearing almost nude—with only strategically placed sports equipment covering her body—to promote its focus on the sports prediction market. The campaign spans digital advertising, social media, online video and out-of-home placements, including in Times Square, throughout football season.

Novig did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Powerade campaign.

After its debut last month, many female athletes swiftly denounced the ads for sexualizing women and undermining their achievements in sports.

But Novig has since doubled down, releasing a second Sweeney spot over the weekend called “No BS.” The company cited rising trading activity and a spike in app downloads as evidence that the campaign is working.

Sweeney is an equity investor in Novig and helped shape creative direction and strategy, including by suggesting that Novig center its message around its sports-only focus, according to Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky. The “Just Sports” campaign was developed in-house, led by head of creative Alex Thompson, working with Sweeney.

“We have enormous respect for female athletes and the continued growth of women’s sports,” Fortinsky told Ad Age. “We’re focused exclusively on sports. Sydney’s not a female athlete and was not claiming to be one.”

Powerade’s investments in women’s sports include two NCAA March Madness campaigns with Flau’Jae Johnson, Paris Olympics work featuring Sha’Carri Richardson and Katie Grimes, and campaigns with Alex Morgan and Tatjana Smith. The brand said it will continue that support in 2027 through its partnerships with the U.S. Women’s National Team and the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Contributing: Brian Bonilla

15768: Awarding Faux Philanthropy Is Inherently Scammy…

 

Power of Purpose Awards? More like Power of Patronization.

14963: Saatchi & Saatchi Denmark Doesn’t Have A Leg To Stand On.

Saatchi & Saatchi Denmark is responsible for this divertisement hyping gender equality. Um, is Saatchi & Saatchi really qualified to pontificate on the subject? Really? The long-winded and air-headed concept explanation below requires sitting down.

“We’ve created the campaign for KiB (Women On Boards) — an organization fighting to give women more influence at the top of Danish businesses. Up until now it has been a struggle for KiB to create the needed impact, mainly because a great deal of Danish companies have not been interested in a dialogue as to the benefits of having more women in top positions. So, we had to come up with an extra ordinary campaign to break the wall of silence”, says Annette Piilgaard, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Denmark.

“We knew we had to come up with something mind provoking and at the same time very easy to decode. And what would do the job better than sending the companies a brand-new modern chair ... with a missing leg to tell the story about the imbalance? The link from the three-legged chair to the need for more women in leadership positions and boardrooms is a very clear and concrete symbol that creates great impact”, explains Sabine Herskind, Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Denmark.

“The strategy was to put pressure on the companies receiving the chair with the missing leg — a leg we would bring to a meeting if they invited us for dialogue. So, we decided to go public with the names of the companies we approached. It has been provoking, but highly effective”, says Annette Piilgaard.

The campaign was launched in the beginning of January created instantly created a very broad and positive reaction. Besides securing meetings with leading companies, it has also generated a long range of articles in the Danish press supporting the campaign. In addition, the Danish Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs have also reached out to initiate a dialogue.

“We could not have wished for a better reaction and it feels great to have generated the reach we were aiming for. At this point, 7 out of 10 have invited us to a meeting and we are extremely happy for the positive feedback. But what matters the most is the end result; more women in leading positions in Danish top companies”, says Gitte Maya Elsing, chairwoman of KiB.

14948: Ads Of The World Perfectly Reflects The Exclusive And Discriminatory World Of Advertising.

Oh, look! There are currently 82 divertisements in the Top International Women’s Day Ads collection at Ads of the World. Meanwhile, Black History Month ads don’t even justify a collection. It’s a sad, sobering and accurate view of the advertising world.

14922: BHM 2020—Google.

Supplementing its earlier TV commercial divertisement, Google acknowledged Black History Month with a 3-D doodle commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Greensboro sit-in. Appropriately enough, Google will ultimately put the progressive sentiments in a box during the other 11 months of the year.

14920: BHM 2020—Forbes.

Forbes published a fluff piece titled, “How Google, Coca-Cola And Other American Companies Are Celebrating Black History Month 2020.” Um, by producing patronizingly deceptive divertisements—veritable heat shields of hypocrisy.

14895: Google Divertisement Earns “The Most Searched” For Hypocritical, Lying Bullshit.

According to Adweek, “Google Celebrates ‘The Most Searched’ to Set the Stage for Black History Month” via its latest divertisement. Um, Google should try searching for Blacks in its own hallways. The search results would hardly be cause for celebration.

14889: Super Bowl Displays Super Patronizing Lies From White Ad Agencies And White Advertisers.

Advertising Age published a lengthy fluff piece that claimed Super Bowl advertisers are embracing diversity—which really means that White corporations have conspired collaborated with White advertising agencies to produce pricy divertisements to falsely position themselves as progressive. Indeed, the photo montage illustrating the report is predominately female. And the advertisers who integrated females of color probably feel doubly inclusive; however, MultiCultClassics will label them as doubly deceptive. In 2010, Cyrus Mehri presented the results of a study showing that the creators of Super Bowl advertising were overwhelmingly White. It’s a safe bet that things haven’t changed much over the past decade—except for White women. Super Bowl advertisers are not embracing diversity; rather, they are embracing divertsity. The truth would make Colin Kaepernick drop to his knees for sure.

Super Bowl Advertisers Embrace Diversity … Cautiously

Big Game marketers look to better represent women and minorities without offending anyone

By Jeanine Poggi

This year’s crop of Super Bowl commercials will feature two drag queens, an all-female cast and a “Queer Eye” guy. It's a step to better represent modern society by casting more diverse ethnicities, lifestyles and cultural perspectives in the Big Game. It’s an effort that shouldn’t further fracture a divided nation, but Sabra Chief Marketing Officer Jason Levine says, “Inclusive marketing, even under the best intentions, can find itself feeding into the divisiveness of the country.”

And if there is one goal nearly all Super Bowl LIV advertisers have, it’s to not alienate a particular group or political ideology.

To that end, those who are at least attempting to recast Super Bowl commercials, which historically have not been friendly to women or minorities, are doing so in the least controversial way possible—by cushioning them with humor.

Making space

For its second consecutive Super Bowl ad, Olay was inspired by shows like Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Fleabag” in its effort to depict women in roles typically held by men, especially in the fields of science and technology.

Starring an all-female cast of celebrities, including YouTuber Lilly Singh, comedian Busy Philipps, Taraji P. Henson, Katie Couric and retired NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, the space-themed commercial, “Make Space for Women,” makes light of the fact that as a society we have not historically made space for women.

“We wanted to make a spot that focused on the idea that there’s plenty of space for women, there’s plenty of space for everyone, but do it in a way that everyone got the joke,” says Madonna Badger, whose agency, Badger & Winters, created the ad.

Badger calls the tone of the commercial “humor with a social purpose.”

“When we offer optimism about problems that seem unsolvable, comedy resonates with audiences and creates a really simple gateway or door for us to have an increased understanding of complex issues,” she says. “Beneath our playful story is a very sophisticated and substantial message.”

This strategy, Badger says, resonates with millennial women who “love their humor mixed with who they are and what they can do.”

But Olay isn’t looking to solely speak to these women. Quite the opposite. “We wanted to do it in a way that embraces everyone,” Badger says. “It’s a women-first message everyone can appreciate, men, children, teenagers, millennials, Gen X-ers.”

It’s a similar approach taken by Sabra hummus, which will make its first foray into the Super Bowl with a commercial that stars Kim Chi and Miz Cracker from “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” feuding “Real Housewives of New Jersey” stars Teresa Giudice and Caroline Manzo and rapper T-Pain, among others, in an effort to speak to the entire nation of potential hummus consumers. “There’s something for everyone in this ad,” Sabra CMO Levine says, noting the upbeat, humorous spot takes an “apolitical” approach.

Not taking sides

Even as brands make a social statement or look to be more inclusive in their representation of America, they are being careful not to take a political stance in the Super Bowl.

Budweiser avoided anything that even carries the hint of politics in its “Typical Americans” spot, which features viral videos of everyday people engaging in acts of kindness and triumph juxtaposed to negative stereotypes of Americans.

As the voiceover bemoans that “typical Americans” are always “showing off their strength,” the ad shows a firefighter battling flames. “Look at him, touching other people’s things,” the ad continues, as a scene is shown of a man pushing someone else's car out of the snow. Other scenes include a soldier’s surprise homecoming—“showing up uninvited”—and a man giving his shirt to a shirtless man in a subway car—“removing their clothes in public.”

One part of the ad that could have potentially been controversial shows a clip of the founder of the Free Hugs initiative doling out embraces to a police officer during a protest march. Nowhere in the clip, however, is it clearly identifiable what issue the march was addressing.

“The use of these commonly used stereotypes against America was a means to help remind us that this is something that we are in together,” says Monica Rustgi, Budweiser’s VP of marketing. “These are stereotypes that we all collectively share. We strategically used those to help everyone see themselves as being on the same team, and then debunking those stereotypes and rising above.”

‘Pandering or fake’

While brands might be playing it safe in their efforts not to offend any group, there’s always a risk when attempting to be inclusive.

“It can come off as pandering or fake,” says Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix. “They are checking the boxes but it comes across as very awkward or forced.”

If the brand isn’t practicing what it preaches in hiring practices and in other parts of their business, it can appear as if it’s capitalizing on a cause for the brand’s own benefit, which can result in viewers feeling exploited, he adds.

True progress is also more than just casting female leads, minorities or LGBTQ in a spot or making a statement of support for any specific group. Instead, Daboll says, the goal should be normalizing same-sex relationships and women in roles traditionally played by men, for example. It’s about “representing contemporary society better rather than pushing a cause.”

Still a divide

There’s no denying there’s a pressing need for Super Bowl ads to be more friendly to women, minorities and LGBTQ.

While it’s been at least several years since Super Bowl commercials portrayed women as sex objects or the stereotypical nagging wife, women are still featured far less in Super Bowl commercials than men.

Last year, 21 women had starring or feature roles in Super Bowl commercials compared to about 43 men, according to Ad Age’s Super Bowl archive. And of the celebrities that appeared in Super Bowl LIII commercials, 25 were male while just 13 were female, according to data from E-Poll Market Research. (This does not include the 40 or so current and former football players that appeared in the National Football League’s spot.)

While things are moving in the right direction, the percentages are out of sync with the Super Bowl’s audience, which is nearly half female. Last year, 39.5 million women watched the Super Bowl, accounting for 46 percent of the 98.2 million viewers.

When it comes to LGBTQ representation, the situation is even bleaker. While there have been a few attempts made over the years to represent the community, such as Coca-Cola’s 2018 ad “The Wonder of Us,” which embraced gender-nonconforming pronouns, or Axe’s 2016 ad showing a man vogueing in heels, those efforts are few and far between.

That’s changing a bit this year. “Queer Eye’s” Jonathan Van Ness will star in a spot for Pop-Tarts, while rapper Lil Nas X, who came out as gay last year, will be featured in Doritos’ commercial.

Kim Chi, a South Korean-American drag queen, artist and TV personality best known as a contestant on season 8 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” says “Ten years ago if you would have said there would be a queer artist of color in a Super Bowl ad you would have laughed at it.”

This year, Kim Chi and Miz Cracker, another contestant from the show, are featured in Sabra’s spot.

“Growing up for me there weren’t many Asian representations in pop culture and gay role models were extremely, extremely rare,” Kim Chi says. “For me, to be that for an Asian kid growing up gay in a small town watching football with their family, that’s incredibly exciting.”

14883: Make Adland Great Again—White Ad Agency Designs Divertisements For Immigrants.

Not sure why somebody thought this campaign celebrating International Migrants Day by saluting U.S. immigrants was a good idea. Um, excluding Native Americans and those kidnapped from their homeland, most U.S. citizens are directly or indirectly tied to immigration. Oh, and the White advertising agency responsible for the work could benefit from adding a few racial and ethnic immigrants to the fold.

14865: Overrated Overlooks Overwhelmingly Overinflated, Overexposed Offal.

Advertising Age presented The Most Overrated Ads of the Decade, which featured Fearless Girl. Hey, don’t forget Gracie for Cheerios, The Talk and The Look.

14861: Delayed WTF 47—A Late Look At The Look.

MultiCultClassics is often occupied with real work. As a result, a handful of events occur without the expected blog commentary. This limited series—Delayed WTF—seeks to make belated amends for the absence of malice.

The disturbingly disappointing divertisement from Procter & Gamble—The Look—warrants a quick glance and glare.

The Look is a male companion to The Talk—as well as a colored cousin to We Believe and #LoveOverBias. That is, such work comprises a dysfunctional family of divertisements from a White corporation attempting to fabricate the illusion of being culturally competent and progressive.

According to Advertising Age, The Look was hatched after a Black creative director told a P&G associate director, “I think you got it wrong,” in regards to The Talk—that is, the creative director felt The Talk lacked a strong Black male presence. On the one hand, the female focus is not unusual, as The Talk was created to support the My Black Is Beautiful campaign. It’s also not unusual that The Talk contained cultural miscues, as it was produced by a White advertising agency—even though the White shop did hire a consultant of color to provide relevant insights.

Yet while P&G Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard admitted the invisible men aspect of The Talk was an oversight, he didn’t offer to return the Cannes Grand Prix trophy—or any of the other awards he’s collected for presenting the façade of cultural competence.

Equally annoying is the hoopla being generated for The Look, positioning the spot as cutting edge social commentary. Sorry, but the concept is a modern rerun of the classic Calvin campaign from Mickey D’s—hey, it appears that Calvin elevated from shift manager to courthouse judge.

Sadly, it doesn’t look as if multicultural marketing has advanced over the years. Ditto minorities in the advertising industry. Meanwhile, guys like Pritchard move ahead with accolades and applause, heralded as forward-looking, revolutionary mavericks—all of which deserves an eye roll.

14859: The Best Social-Impact Divertisements—Presented By The Worst Social-Impact Diverters.

Advertising Age published promotional poop from the Ad Council on the “best social-impact campaigns for 2019”—featuring a photo collage of the judges that underscores the lack of impact on the social fabric of adland, especially in terms of diversity. That is, it’s all about White people impacting what is deemed best for society.

14821: Clio Recognizes Hypocrisy, Lies And Cultural Cluelessness With Shiny Trophies.

Clio has concocted a new award to salute divertisements—and undoubtedly drive up dollars. The hype reads: “Clio & Brand Storytelling have partnered to celebrate the most creative branded entertainment and content work that promotes or creates awareness for a cause, foundation, organization and/or political or social issue.” Okay, but people with integrity and sincere concern do good for others without expecting anything in return. The exclusionary denizens of adland, in contrast, are hypocritical scoundrels who sell their souls for statues.

14802: More Collateral Damage—And Dumbness—From The Ted Royer TED Talk.

Advertising Age published a divertorial by BETC Senior Art Director Lauren Haberfield, who whined about the recent Ted Royer LIA-liar spectacle and ultimately demonstrated that art directors should not handle copy. Haberfield offered no original commentary or provocative perspectives, opting to regurgitate the obvious in clichéd fashion. She did manage, however, to make a few ignorant comments.

For example, Haberfield sniffed, “Once again, a woman’s right to be offended was completely overruled by a man’s right to be heard.” Okay, except Royer’s presentation was arranged and approved by LIA President and Founder Barbara Levy—so maybe Haberfield should direct her offense at the White woman responsible for the mess.

Keep in mind, Levy took a swipe at Diet Madison Avenue when remarking, “I do not believe that an anonymous social media platform that does not allow the accused to respond should be allowed to indict, try and convict anyone.” Okay, but DMA did not indict, try and convict Royer. The ex-CCO underwent an investigation conducted by Droga5, which resulted in the White advertising agency deciding to terminate the man. Yeah, the DMA vigilantes posted arguably slanderous indictments—for which they deserve whatever legal judgments might inevitably be leveled against them—but the trial and conviction of Royer belongs to Droga5.

Haberfield displayed naiveté and stupidity by stating, “As an attendee of Creative LIAisons, I want to vouch for what an important opportunity this event is for young creatives.” Um, award shows such as LIA are a root cause of the overall problem. That is, trophies fuel the pseudo rock star status bestowed upon alleged pigs like Royer.

Haberfield also declared, “This isn’t about one incident or one man. It’s about how ignorant, how careless, the industry still is about facing what is happening inside agencies. Sexual harassment and assault are not things of the past. Managers continue to cover it up or keep it hidden. And people in power still abuse that power and manipulate those without it.” Wow, that’s a pretty sweeping condemnation. Does Haberfield view JWT London Creative Director Jo Wallace as a mentor and role model? Is she a junior Cindy Gallop, ready to brand Royer as representing the single biggest business issue in adland?

Finally, Haberfield seems oblivious to the reality that White women have been co-conspirators with White men in maintaining the exclusivity in the field. It’s not inappropriate or inaccurate to say the two groups have literally and figuratively been in bed with each other for a long time.

Is time really up on sexual misconduct in our industry?

By Lauren Haberfield

The second that ex-Droga5 chief creative officer Ted Royer stepped out to make his first public appearance since the allegations of sexual misconduct and his subsequent firing in 2018, it became shockingly apparent just how little progress the advertising industry has made in addressing the MeToo epidemic.

His audience? Not his peers, nor the press, nor established industry leaders, but the very type of women who are typically targeted by powerful men like him: young creatives who are building their careers.

The talk had little to do with creativity or the purpose of the conference—Creative LIAisons, the LIA awards event for creatives under age 30. Royer was unlisted in the program, leaving the audience little choice but to listen to what became an open, undebated space for him to deny accusations. One by one, he denounced testimonies posted on Instagram account Diet Madison Avenue, saying they were fabricated.

Once again, a woman’s right to be offended was completely overruled by a man’s right to be heard.

Royer’s surprise appearance followed award-winning journalist Lara Logan’s talk on empathy. The message was far from subtle: his placement, directly after, practically screamed “give him the benefit of the doubt.”

When alleged sexual assault victims tell their stories, wouldn’t it be nice if they, too, were preceded by an emphatic talk on the importance of believing them?

There is no question that a person should have a right to tell their story. But in a world that actually needs an “I believe her” hashtag, taking stories from victims and using them to claim innocence in any context other than a court of law comes across as insensitive at best, violence at worst: it is part of what fuels a culture that is more inclined to blame the assaulted than the predator.

Multiple people left the room during Royer’s talk.

The session closed with Royer offering to take questions. Never mind that the Creative LIAisons’ organizers let an alleged sexual harasser address a room of young creatives in the first place; a properly managed Q&A could have been an opportunity to even out the conversation.

Let’s be honest … speaking out against harassment, even in this type of forum, doesn’t always end well. And to a room full of young professionals, eager to advance their careers—who may not even have enough power to speak their minds to their bosses, let alone question one of the (former) most powerful men in our industry—no matter how open and willing Royer appeared to be, it only amplified how inappropriate this context was for his first public appearance.

But more tone-deaf than the talk itself was the way it was handled after.

Barbara Levy, the head of the LIA awards, issued an apology but went on, in her words, to ‘warn’ attendees that a sexual assault victim would speak in the afternoon. That talk was ultimately canceled, but the warning’s implication was disconcerting. It was as if she believed people would feel just as uncomfortable about hearing a victim’s perspective as they rightly did by an alleged offender’s.

As an attendee of Creative LIAisons, I want to vouch for what an important opportunity this event is for young creatives. The LIA awards made mistakes, but these were symptoms of a bigger issue, not the problem.

This isn’t about one incident or one man. It’s about how ignorant, how careless, the industry still is about facing what is happening inside agencies. Sexual harassment and assault are not things of the past. Managers continue to cover it up or keep it hidden. And people in power still abuse that power and manipulate those without it.

The conversation around women and sexual harassment in the workplace may have changed, but the abuse of power has not. #TimesUp on pretending it has.

14792: Strumming Along With BBDO Brazilian Divertisement.

BBDO in Brazil is responsible for the Doritos “Diversity Guitar”—a little divertisement ditty. Is this the kind of shit that BBDO Global Creative Chief David Lubars would call scammy and refuse to be associated with? Appropriately enough, any mention of diversity connected to BBDO is ultimately a lot of song and dance.

14779: ANA Members Are Masters Of Hypocritical Bullshit And Blatant Lies.

Advertising Age reported the ANA kicked off its latest soiree with a “major focus on multicultural marketing”—including hyping its “#SeeALL” propaganda, a colored version of its “#SeeHer” divertisement diversion. Um, the ANA has been gnashing its dentures over diversity for more than a decade, with no progress worth reporting. Although maybe it can be argued that ANA CEO Bob Liodice opting against producing another self-promotional video on the topic is progress. Sorry, but repeatedly advocating for equality without actually doing anything is patronizing and passive bias.

ANA’s annual meeting begins with major focus on multicultural marketing

ANA CEO Bob Liodice hones in on diversity in opening speech, ignores hot-button issues like media transparency

By E.J. Schultz

For the past several years, Association of National Advertisers CEO Bob Liodice has kicked off the group’s largest conference of the year by ticking off a laundry list of issues plaguing the industry, including the opaque digital media supply chain, ad fraud and the ANA’s long-running fight with media agencies over transparency in contracts.

But on Thursday, as he opened this year’s “Masters of Marketing” at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort in Orlando, Liodice abandoned the typically combative tone in favor of focusing on a single issue: diversity.

He urged the trade group’s members to make multicultural marketing a priority by plugging several ANA initiatives, such as “#SeeALL,” a new program aimed at getting marketers to better target multicultural communities. It is an offshoot to the long-running #SeeHer” initiative that seeks to boost by 20% the accurate portrayals of women and girls in U.S. advertising and media by 2020.

“SeeALL” is led by the ANA’s Multicultural Marketing and Diversity Committee, which has also launched a new “cultural insights impact measure.” The metric, known as CIIM, “identifies the impact and effectiveness of cultural insights in ads and programming and how these have the potential to affect sales lift,” according to a September blog post by the ANA’s multicultural marketing chairperson Gilbert Dávila.

“When you infuse cultural insights into your advertising … you can actually generate a lift in sales … and that is what this is all about—to be able to dive growth while we are being purposeful marketers,” Liodice said in his speech.

On the growth front, Liodice delivered positive news, saying that eight in 10 Fortune 500 companies grew revenue last year, while six in 10 grew after-tax profits. That is an improvement over recent years, during which roughly half of the companies on the list have experienced declining after-tax profits. “Our job now is to institutionalize that growth and ensure it’s not just a one time event,” Liodice said.

But when it comes to multicultural marketing as a growth lever, the industry has a long way to go. Multicultural consumers comprise nearly 40 percent of the total U.S. population, but multicultural media investments make up only about 5 percent of total advertising and marketing spending, according to a study published in August by the ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing.

Also, more than 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies are spending less than 1 percent of their of their advertising budget on segment-specific targeted media, according to the ANA. The trade group is “prioritizing inclusion and equality as a call to action for corporations looking to drive incremental growth,” Dávila said in the September blog post.

Liodice in his speech played a video featuring several chief marketers touting multicultural marketing, including Target marketing chief Rick Gomez, who remarked that “prioritizing the multicultural consumer: it’s no longer a nice to do, it’s a must-do.”

Left unsaid in Liodice’s speech is the failure by companies to promote people of color to top marketing jobs. Only nine of the chief marketing officers at the nation’s largest 100 brands and companies were minorities, down from 11 CMOs in 2017, according to a recent study from executive recruitment firm Spencer Stuart. Also, none of the 18 CMOs hired last year were minorities.

The lack of diversity in senior positions is apparent at this year’s conference: an overwhelming majority of the 3,000 people attending the event are white.

14777: A Saturday Morning Look At The Look.

From Advertising Age…

P&G’s ‘The Look’ was a ‘Divine Opportunity’ for Creatives, Says Saturday Morning

An Advertising Week panel gave behind-the-scenes information about the moving ad

By I-Hsien Sherwood

In Procter & Gamble’s brand campaign “The Look,” an African-American man deals with the continual, micro-aggressive glimpses of society as he navigates his everyday life. Saturday Morning and P&G offered sobering insights into the creation of the spot at the “Let’s talk about bias” panel at Advertising Week New York 2019.

“When we wrote the script, we didn’t think it would be relevant,” said Keith Cartwright, executive creative director at 72andSunny and co-founder of Saturday Morning. “It’s something people of color deal with every day.”

In each scene, the man experiences subtle discrimination in particular locations, selected specifically for the story. “It was important to establish the historical context,” said Kwame Taylor-Hayford, co-founder of Saturday Morning and founder of Kin. Scenes at a lunch counter and a swimming pool mirror are familiar from racist clashes during the Civil Rights Movement. Eric T. Austin, associate brand director and global media innovation at P&G, drew a throughline from the brand’s previous work “The Talk,” which featured mothers of color but largely left fathers out of the picture, to “The Look,” which focuses on a father and child.

“As the world’s largest advertiser, we have to take responsibility for the images we put into the world,” he said. “These images can lead to stereotypes,” and those stereotypes can lead to societal consequences like violence against people of color, Austin added, before invoking Trayvon’s Martin’s name as an example of the worst kind of consequence that can befall black men.

Cartwright detailed two other projects Saturday Morning has worked on—"A Better Half,” a short film made with a predominantly African-American crew, and “A Solid Bond,” a tale of friendship complicated by society’s prejudices.

“Getting the opportunity to work on ‘The Look’ given the context of what my family went through, it was phenomenal,” said Jayanta Jenkins, co-founder of Saturday Morning, whose father grew up in the Deep South. “This is the type of work I have strived to do consistently throughout my career. It was a divine opportunity to do what I love to do.”

14773: Brazilian Divertisements Forward Futile Fight For Gender Equality.

Oh, look! Brazilian advertising agencies are jumping on the White women’s bandwagon too—ignoring realities that render such patronizing poop divertisements of the highest order.

14772: At Advertising Week, PitBull Inspired Bullshit From Buttholes.

Advertising Age reported on the hypocritical outrage from White advertising agency executives feigning disdain over Pitbull performing at Advertising Week. Seems the headline act featured imagery like the photograph above, which countered all the divertsity and divertisements pushed throughout the week-long exclusivity. Of course, Cindy Gallop couldn’t let the self-absorbed opportunity pass without sputtering, “In an industry that sells first and foremost to female consumers, but continues to be male-dominated and massively power-imbalanced when it comes to women … and to talk gender equality, diversity and inclusion but spectacularly fail to deliver on it, it is wholly inappropriate to feature a closing Advertising Week musical act that objectifies women.” Okay, but Gallop is often presenting herself with imagery like the photograph below. Gallop pontificating against objectification is the equivalent of a Grand Wizard promoting Black Lives Matter. Finally, it must be noted that soirees such as Advertising Week are always falsely advocating for diversity—and compensating by hiring hip-hop artists of color to provide entertainment.

Advertising Week’s Pitbull Concert Undermines A Week Of Equality Talk, Say Critics

Industry professionals say Pitbull’s performance did not mix with all the talk of gender parity

By Ilyse Liffreing

In an industry that has long battled sexism, Advertising Week made a concerted effort in its programming this week to address issues of equality and parity. There was an entire track Thursday called “Future is Female,” with seminars titled “Fighting Bias” and “The Business Case for Female Inclusion.” Another track on Monday was devoted to “Diversity and Inclusion.”

So many industry execs were surprised and even disappointed with Advertising Week’s choice of selecting Pitbull as the headline act on the closing night of the event.

The audience at the packed concert venue at Webster Hall on Thursday night might have enjoyed the flashy spectacle (and open bar), but stepping back from the glitz and confetti, advertising industry professionals are saying Advertising Week was a bit tone deaf, and lacked introspection. Pitbull, flanked by backup dancers wearing sparkly red thong one-pieces, performed choreography full of booty-spanking and objectifying gestures. Many say it was a performance at odds with the many of the conference’s panels in the days leading up.

“Advertising industry closes week of diversity and equality panels with an empowering display of twerking and booty-slapping,” wrote Matt MacDonald, group executive creative director at BBDO, in response to a video Ad Age shared on Twitter of his performance of “I Like It.”

The conference, in its 16th year, is meant to be a celebration of the industry and its successes. One panel was called “Corporations & Compassion: A Discussion on Masculinity." The “Gender Parity–It’s Complicated” panel which revealed new research from She Runs It that shows a decline in women leaders. After all that, Pitbull’s performance seemed to undermine the entire week.

“In an industry that sells first and foremost to female consumers, but continues to be male-dominated and massively power-imbalanced when it comes to women … and to talk gender equality, diversity and inclusion but spectacularly fail to deliver on it, it is wholly inappropriate to feature a closing Advertising Week musical act that objectifies women,” says diversity advocate Cindy Gallop, former exec at BBH, founder at MakeLoveNotPorn and board advisor at We Are Rosie, in a statement.

Some wondered how difficult it would have been to hire a female performer who embodied some of equality themes of the week. Pitbull himself, however, was at the conference for a panel called “Reinventing Storytelling for Multicultural Audiences.” He had been on hand to announce the news that his new multicultural agency, 305 Worldwide, created with Horizon Media, had taken on its first client: Boost Mobile (Ad Age spoke with the rapper ahead of his concert on Thursday). The idea of hiring him as a headliner may have been an afterthought on the part of Advertising Week.

Advertising Week has not responded to a request for comment.

Others commented with some snark that the choice of Pitbull was outdated. Pitbull, whose songs include “I Know You Want Me” and “3 to Tango,” got his start in the 2000s, and his debut album “M.I.A.M.I” came out in 2004. Nearly 20 years later and the superstar is still performing, and announced a new album at the performance. But, for many, his heyday has passed. From the stage, he appeared self-aware, saying: “I’m in the 11th hour of my career.”

For observers who feel pushback against Pitbull is much ado about nothing, Gallop says, hold on.

“For anybody leaping to Advertising Week’s defense on this front, for the women in our industry, it’s not just ‘this one thing’, it’s the cumulative effect of so many things like this,” she says.

Pitbull himself managed to work a message of inclusion into his act. “Music brings everybody together," he said from the stage. “It has no barriers. It has no boundaries. It definitely has no borders. And it has no limits.”

14761: In The Divertsity Era, All White Advertising Agencies Look Alike.

AgencySpy posted an internal email from Wieden + Kennedy leaders (depicted below) boasting about the White advertising agency’s Mickey D’s win while slamming ex-AOR We Are Unlimited. This is the equivalent of a professional athlete executing an end zone dance after posterizing a Special Olympian. The barbs included, “But in the end, WAU forgot the power of creativity (or arguably didn’t have much to offer).” Stay classy, W+K.

The truth is, W+K and WAU actually are very equal rivals in one key area. Both White advertising agencies are divertsity and divertisement deceivers. Indeed, the shitholes are run by White women—Colleen Decourcy and Wendy Clark—who talk the talk and walk away. These fools are only interested in promoting White women—especially themselves.

Decourcy and Clark are soul sisters in the Divertsity Era, perfectly representing the new racism exclusivity of the field.