Showing posts with label hypocrisy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hypocrisy. Show all posts

Thursday, January 02, 2025

16906: The Year In Review—Developing DEIDICATION.

 

Adland 2024 inspired a new term: DEIDICATION

 

DEIDICATION refers to the DEIBA+ dedication professed by brands and White advertising agencies.

 

In the past year, major brands bowed to political pressures, diminishing DEIBA+ heat shields and dismissing human heat shields.

 

White advertising agencies did likewise, although such moves were reportedly motivated by cost-cutting schemes versus political influence.

 

In recent times, brands were quick to terminate White advertising agencies for displaying racism and/or cultural cluelessness. Plus, a handful of clients demanded agency partners diversify staffs.

 

Yet no White advertising agencies have protested brands for DEIBA+ abandonment. Don’t expect shops to cut ties with clients over these matters.

 

Indeed, White advertising agencies are likely breathing sighs of relief, figuring it’s now okay to follow clients’ leads and defund, downsize, detonate, and disrespect DEIBA+ too.

 

In summation, it all confirms the collective commitments to progress from brands and White advertising agencies are nothing more than performative PR. Rhetorical hypocrisy. Gobbledygook. Bullshit.

 

DEIDICATION really represents steadfast devotion to systemic racism.

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

16904: 3 Strategies To Revive Internal And External DEIBA+ Initiatives—Ignored.

 

Advertising Age published DEIBA+ drivel from the Head of Marketing at Zoomd, offering three strategies to energize internal and external heat shields.

 

Um, a peek at Zoomd leadership shows the three strategies are probably not executed at the firm.

 

Inclusive Marketing Matters—And Needs A Makeover

 

3 strategies to revive internal and external DEI initiatives

 

By Keren Shlush

 

Since the Supreme Court ruled in 2023 to end affirmative action in college admissions, more than 30 states have introduced legislation banning or limiting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

 

This trend has adversely impacted DEI initiatives in the corporate world, with companies including DoorDash, Home Depot, Lyft, Meta, Snap, Wayfair and Zoom making significant cuts to their DEI teams. According to data from workforce analytics provider Revelio Labs, DEI jobs, which grew following Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, peaked in early 2023 before falling by 5% and by an additional 8% in Q1 2024.

 

Though activists have pushed companies, including Ford and Harley-Davidson, to scale back their DEI initiatives, historical marketing data supports the value of diversity in marketing.

 

Research conducted at Oxford University using data collected by large businesses including Diageo, Kantar and Unilever, found that ads portraying a full range of people increase consumer preferences and long-term sales. The reserachers analyzed 392 brands and found a 3.5% increase in short-term sales and a greater than 16% increase in longer-term sales when running ads with a diverse range of people.

 

A marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania analyzed video commercials for mortgage refinancing and found that ads that depicted minority representation increased advertising elasticity and sales among both minority borrowers as well as among white borrowers.

 

With marketing research data supporting the value of DEI initiatives, how can advertising and marketing organizations ensure they’re optimizing their teams and work? Here are three ways:

 

Rebrand DEI

 

According to HR Dive, industry experts find the term “employee experience” a safe rebrand for DEI. Another option is “employee empowerment.” Both of these terms have positive associations for employees and broader corporate constituencies without negative connotations.

 

The first and most pronounced challenge around DEI is the name, which has negative connotations for too many people. The most efficient and effective way to address this challenge is to rebrand DEI without using the words diversity, equity or inclusion. As marketers, we know how to rebrand as part of our work, so we know that we can successfully pivot from DEI to a name or term that will provide positive associations for current and prospective employees as well as the other relevant constituencies.

 

Recruit according to your target audience

 

A criticism frequently leveled against DEI initiatives is that they don’t provide business value for the corporate organization. The best way to address this challenge is to ensure that there is a business case to support all initiatives being implemented.

 

Fortunately, many diversity initiatives do deliver business value. One such initiative is to recruit employees according to each organization’s target audience. Therefore, if your organization sells to seniors and minorities, then your marketing organization should include both seniors and minorities.

 

There have been countless marketing examples where marketing mistakes were made because the marketing team didn’t have representation from the target audience. For example, when AMC Motors launched the AMC Matador in Spanish-speaking markets in the 1970s, the name didn’t go over well with many consumers because “Matador,” used to describe a bullfighter, literally means “killer.” This is but one of many marketing mistakes that could have been avoided with a marketing team representing the targeted audience.

 

Measure your recruiting initiatives

 

In our current era of performance marketing, advertising campaigns are continuously being measured according to key performance indicators (KPIs). Likewise, it’s critical to incorporate measurement criteria for any diversity-driven initiatives.

 

For example, for a marketer recruiting to support target audiences such as seniors, it’s important to establish KPIs to evaluate the performance of those recruited. Effective KPIs can include comparing campaign results before and after seniors were recruited, as well as media, messaging and budget performance changes.

 

If diversity initiatives are managed like other business decisions and are supported with real performance metrics, it’s difficult for those critical of DEI to find fault in these initiatives.

 

In the same way that the aforementioned research supports the value of diversity in consumer-focused marketing, diversity initiatives can have a positive impact on the marketing organization. By managing these initiatives effectively, marketers benefit from the value of diversity and a smartly run business.

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

16895: Publishers Who Live In Glass Houses…

 

Adweek ran a report titled, “Branding’s Year of Fear: A Look Back at Six Blatant Backlashes from 2024,” spotlighting brands that experienced blowback for a variety of reasons. The six instances included the following:

 

Diversity takes a hit

 

After years of embracing diversity (at least on paper), a phalanx of household-name brands including Ford, John Deere, Target and Lowe’s decided to abandon it in 2024, dismissing some of the very ideals they’d trumpeted until recently. After the 2020 murder of George Floyd prompted much c-suite soul searching and resulted in written pledges to increase diversity and equity inclusion, the social pendulum seems to have swung back in a case of fear caused by fear.

 

Social conservatives spooked and angered by corporate wokeness coalesced around activist Robbie Starbuck, whose accusatory tweets and boycott threats then spooked and angered the corporations. A recent Public Private Strategies Institute survey showed that 82% of business leaders still believe in DEI, but 2024’s counterstrike means they’ll probably be quieter about it.

 

Okay, but it should be noted Adweek abandoned its dedication to DEIBA+ content in early 2023.

Sunday, December 08, 2024

16877: Sunday Sundry Thoughts On Dreams & Teams.

 

This Mercedes-Benz F1 campaign from AMV BBDO pays tribute to Lewis Hamilton and declares, “Every dream needs a team.”

 

Okay, but the AMV BBDO team appears to need the dream of diversity.

 


Wednesday, September 18, 2024

16775: 100% Performative PR.

 

Why is a variation of this L’Oréal advertisement appearing on the back cover of the September/October 2024 issue of Essence magazine? Perhaps it’s residual reparations for the Munroe Bergdorf misstep.

 

Also, how many oh-so-committed L’Oréal Groupe brands are partnering with White advertising agencies—where DEIBA+ is a dream deferred, delayed, delegated, and denied? The percentage is probably much closer to 100% than 0%.

 

Thursday, July 11, 2024

16703: Tearing Into Tear The Paper Ceiling.

 

Continue to be annoyed by the hypocrisy of the Tear The Paper Ceiling campaign. Sure, the endeavor is positive, praise-worthy, and progressive. But are the high-paid executives at the Ad Council and White advertising agency behind the concept hiring degree-free people of color?

 

There’s probably no ceiling to the stacks of paper being collected by the culturally clueless creators—while the depicted job seekers receive crumbs.

 


Wednesday, July 10, 2024

16701: When Doves Fly…

  

Adweek reported the Dove Global Chief Marketing Officer is ending a 28-year run at Unilever. Admittedly did not know (or care) that a key “architect” of the Dove Real Beauty campaign is a White man—who partnered with a White advertising agency likely led by White men to produce patronizingly propagandistic poop intended to revise women’s beauty standards. Unbelievable. Or not.

Monday, July 01, 2024

16691: Glass Lions Tainted By Ass Lions…?

 

More About Advertising reported on charges of sexist behavior leveled against male advertising professionals behind entries for a Glass Lion trophy, exposing another blatant example of hypocrisy in Adland.

 

Expect the #timeTo guide to understanding sexual harassment to receive expanded updates for the next Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

 

Gee, it all feels as outrageous as White advertising agencies winning awards for campaigns promoting DEIBA+ perspectives.

 

Jane Austin in Cannes: Cindy Gallop calls out sexist behaviour at Cannes

 

By Jane Austin

 

Some male advertising professionals behind entries for the Glass Lion for Change category this year are definitely not practicing what they preach in their creative work.

 

Cindy Gallop, president of the Glass Lions jury, said on that several individuals who presented their work to the jury this week exhibited sexist behaviour while doing so and jury had contacted those entrants later to express their displeasure.

 

This included “the man talking over the woman, the man physically blocking the woman with his body while presenting, using the woman as a prop,” said Gallop.

 

As Gallop pointed out, this is indicative of ongoing sexism in the industry. It also further highlights the hypocrisy of this industry. The messaging about DE&I, and issues like sexism, harassment, bullying and gender discrimination, is often just that – messaging. Behind all the posturing about change, the same old sexist rules still apply.

 

Thankfully, more awareness has been raised at Cannes this year about the sexist behaviour and harassment that has long been a feature of the festival. We’re seeing some action being taken this year, with the TimeTo initiative to tackle sexual harassment in advertising, partnering with Cannes Lions to produce new anti-harassment guidance.

 

In addition, women have stronger voices than ever at Cannes, with the likes of the Female Quotient Equality Lounge and MadWomen hosting thought-provoking discussions. Though the focus on girly culture that’s sometimes a feature of female-focused events at Cannes (the makeovers, the pink cocktails etc) can jar a bit with the seriousness of the issue. But hey, you can be serious about feminism and still want to look good.

 

Gallop and the Glass jury have done what everyone in this industry should be doing: calling out sexist behaviour for what it is and demonstrating that it will not be tolerated. If behaviour like this goes unchecked in any work environment, DE&I initiatives don’t amount to much more than processes and empty promises.

 

You can create campaigns that celebrate women all you like, but if your behaviour doesn’t change, nothing will. It’s not just a matter of talking about diversity, it’s about behaving like a human being who respects others and shows some human decency. In the rush to hustle in Cannes, some are forgetting that entirely.

Thursday, June 06, 2024

16663: Dove Real Screwy Media Plan.

 

Here’s an advertorial from the recently spotlighted Dove Real Beauty propaganda taking an anti-AI stance, pontificating for the kind of beauty Unilever wants AI to learn. Right.

 

What makes the preachy platform so ridiculous? The advertorial is running in beauty and fashion publications like Vogue, where the magazine content and advertisements nearly exclusively present supermodel standards—and presumably successfully, as such publishers and advertisers appear to maintain their global popularity.

 

It’s clear proof that Dove and Unilever have failed in their self-absorbed, delusional, and hypocritical ambitions to redefine beauty.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

16590: Lipton TTFN.

 

Advertising Age reported McCann Worldgroup Global Executive Creative Director Pierre—“So Fucking Bored”—Lipton left the White advertising agency to pursue other opportunities. Don’t expect Lipton to land elsewhere in the IPG network as a Chief Diversity Officer.

 

Remember when former IPG CEO Michael Roth declared the White holding company had zero tolerance for any behavior conflicting with the corporate mission to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion?

 

Lipton is a poster boy for the hypocrisy, performative PR, and outright lies embedded in the DNA of Adland. People of color who take bold stands for equality are routinely blackballed, blacklisted, and blacked out of the industry. Yet for White people who display cultural cluelessness, exhibit blatant bias, and enforce systemic racism, all is forgiven and forgotten.

 

McCann Global Executive Creative Director Pierre Lipton Departs

 

Lipton had been with McCann for seven years

 

By Brian Bonilla

 

Pierre Lipton, global executive creative director at McCann Worldgroup and former co-chief creative officer of McCann New York, is no longer with the agency. The news comes five months after Lipton was assigned the executive creative director role.

 

“Pierre Lipton is leaving McCann Worldgroup to pursue other opportunities. He contributed to many groundbreaking pieces of creative work during his time here and we wish him well in his next chapter,” Interpublic Group of Cos.’ McCann Worldgroup wrote in a statement.

 

Lipton declined to comment.

 

Lipton’s departure comes five months after he was accused of making an “inappropriate remark” at an internal agency meeting tied to an initiative meant to teach ways to recognize and eradicate unconscious bias. As a result, Lipton took a leave of absence.

 

Lipton had been with McCann for seven years. For nearly three of them, he was co-chief creative officer of McCann New York. Before joining McCann, Lipton was chief creative officer at 360i, which has since been absorbed into Dentsu Creative.

 

“When I came [to McCann] 7 years ago, I did so for the opportunity to walk amongst giants. To be surrounded by and learn from people who were better than I at what I loved doing: making great work for the biggest brands on the planet, and trying to make the world better because of it,” Lipton wrote on his LinkedIn page.

 

In his LinkedIn post, Lipton listed several brands he worked on at McCann such as Mastercard, Verizon and Microsoft, and gun control activism group March For Our Lives.

 

McCann lost its Verizon account to Ogilvy last year and recently shut down its McCann 215 agency, which has long held Xbox as a major client. McCann remains the lead creative agency, according to a spokeswoman for the agency.

 

“I count myself extremely lucky to have connected with some remarkable humans during my time at 622 Third Ave and around the world. I have great affection and respect for more people than I can count, at more companies than I can list, in more cities than I can believe,” Lipton wrote on his LinkedIn. “Thanks to each and every one of you who’ve filled my days with richness, laughs and the drive to do beautifully impossible things.”

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

16543: BHM 2024—Procter & Gamble.

 

For BHM 2024, Procter & Gamble continues to present P&G—that is, Performative & Gobbledygook. The mega-advertiser’s performative PR takes bullshit to a level beyond anything Charmin could handle, checking off a long list of heat shields—including panty shields.

 

Absent from the self-congratulatory crapfest is any effort to counter the hypocrisy of pontificating on progress while partnering with White advertising agencies where diversity is a dream deferred, delegated, diverted, and denied.

 

 

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

16409: Bored By Bullshit.

Just a few more thoughts on the thoughtlessness at McCann New York.

 

Day for Meaning is an annual event held at McCann Worldgroup, whereby the White advertising agency globally closes for the day—a whole fucking day—presumably to chant Kumbaya and engage in patronizing planning, pontificating, and pondering over DEI progress. McCann New York takes performative PR to the next level with a robust Culture section on its corporate website. In short, a McCann honcho expressing disrespectful disinterest warrants changing the name of the stunt to Day for Meaningless. Just a thought.

 

Extending the previous point, Pierre Lipton dissed probably dozens or even scores of teammates who were likely delegated DEI duties to stage the affair. And it’s a safe bet that the designated organizers are predominately non-White staffers and/or ERG members. Lipton’s Day for Mean message goes beyond microaggression to qualify as macroaggression. McCann displayed a willingness for transparency by divulging details to Advertising Age. It’s time to publicly release the full internal investigation report. Just a thought.

 

Why would someone exhibiting cultural cluelessness be re-assigned as a Global Executive Creative Director? Global?! To work exclusively in Sweden perhaps? The new role does not sound like a denouncing demotion. The proper response would have been to send Lipton to a multicultural shop in the IPG network. Or have him switch places—and paychecks—with the mailroom attendant. Just a thought.

 

In the end, a White advertising agency and White holding company are confirming that repeated promises to do better are just hypocritical, box-checking bullshit—which leaves everyone else feeling damned tired and so fucking bored.