In the last two days, I’ve read two articles that I’ve found disturbing – both for their omissions. The New York Times article For Women in Advertising, It’s Still a ‘Mad Men’ World centers gender in this conversation and literally centers a black woman, Sandra Sims-Williams, chief diversity officer at Publicis Groupe, in its imagery with an accompanying pull quote. However, no woman of color expresses a viewpoint in the text of the article. Not a single one. The article gives a few nodds to a layered gender and racial scope by acknowledging that advertising, especially leadership, remains a “white man’s world,” but there is no follow up. Even the quote from Ms. Sims-Williams – “we can sit in rooms and talk to ourselves, but that does not change anything when you do not have men in the room” – is generic and offers little to no context for the experience of women of color. The unique angle she could have (and may have) offered is simply not there.
Just a day later, I read how Deutsch “parted ways” with SVP/director of diversity Felicia Geiger, who had been with the company for 14 years. Deutsch’s perfectly polished public relations reasoning says, “One of the philosophies we lean into is that everybody at Deutsch, from the CEO to the receptionist, owns diversity.” It’s fine. It’s great that everyone owns diversity, but you still need a leader who is current in the practices, has vital relationships with diversity professionals and candidates across the industry, understands the language and actively advocates. Does everyone own that? Will everyone be trained? Is everyone listening?
As a veteran of the American Advertising Federation’s diversity team, I know both of these women, and each has given a large amount of support (financial and time) to creating opportunities for advertising professionals. Muting their voices is especially concerning to someone who has struggled to get a foothold in the industry. I got an advertising degree 16 years ago, but only got a job at an advertisng agency one year ago. That’s after working at AAF, participating in multiple recruitment programs and speaking to several recruiters who tried to place me in junior positions when my project management skills earned through managing communication projects and events were clearly transferrable.
Now that I am working on a national campaign, I do not understand the barriers. My team works hard, but there is nothing supernatural (inaccessible) about the skill level. Diverse perspective matters because part of my role has been ask for a wider range of images even when the target audience is general market. That includes not only racial diversity, but gender and sexuality as well. I also pay close attention to the language in the communication looking especially for triggers that my counterparts just don’t understand. The effect, hopefully, is well-rounded communication, and that should be the industry standard.