Very mad men: We’ve been forced out, say ‘white, male, straight, British’ advertising executives
November 13 2018, 5:25 pm | | 51 Comments
A group of “white, male, straight, British” executives have claimed they were victims of discrimination after being made redundant by J Walter Thompson, London, according to a report by the Evening Standard.
They reportedly lost their jobs in the UK summer following a speech by creative director Jo Wallace (pictured) saying she wanted to “obliterate” its reputation as a “Knightsbridge boys’ club”.
Shortly after the conference in May the men went to JWT’s HR department to express concerns about the implications for their career prospects.
The executives are understood to have engaged lawyers about bringing a possible discrimination case on grounds of gender, race, nationality and sexuality.
51 Comments
…but when are we going to accept that advertising attracts more straight males in creative than females, PR attracts more females than males, the fashion industry attracts more gay males than straight males, but is dominated by females, account service attracts more females than males, teaching attracts more females than males, car dealerships attract more straight males than females, the trades attract more straight males than gay males and straight females combined… and thats just gender and sexuality, let alone ethnic diversity.
When males begin losing jobs because someone is just trying to tick boxes, then the pendulum is swinging too far the other way and we’re inadvertently still being completely sexist.
Again, all for equality, but lets get a grip on reality and accept some industries just attract more of a particular group in society – and that’s okay!
If you’re crap, you’ll eventually get found out and shunted. If you’re not, you won’t. Simples.
valid point, but a lot of that can be unconscious bias. Not quite as simple as ‘some industries just attract more of a particular group’.
She has blatantly been sexist and discriminatory here.
If only Jo was of colour, then JWT would have got the optics constructed perfectly. I reckon they should upgrade and go for a gay female of colour. It’s not like Jo’s shooting the lights out creatively, which is a secondary consideration these days apparently.
“When males begin losing jobs because someone is just trying to tick boxes”.
.. then they might just realise how unfairly the system is stacked against anyone who is not a white straight male. As someone has already pointed out, the reason creative departments over-index with straight white men is due to conscious (and perhaps unconscious) bias. You’re not “all for equality” you’re all for the status quo, which obviously serves your purpose very well.
@I’m all for equality
Stop assuming off your own personal experience or that of your friends. Advertising doesn’t just attract white males over everyone else. Look at the students in AWARD School. They blind judge entries and every year the students are 50/50 gender split of a variety of ethnicities and geographical backgrounds. The top 10 as well.
Maybe get some experience and try giving back to the bigger community and you might be surprised about what you learn about humanity, and creativity.
It’s all about merit. Tough’n up fellas.
Sounds like she has a particularly well developed conscious bias.
Judge should have an easy time awarding considerable damages, Hopefully he’s a straight, old white dude.
hmmm, they could have a case if this could be viewed as a potential “bully-victim” scenario where she is seemingly retaliating against the stereotype that may have imperceptibly wronged her in her earlier career now she is the one in power. And I think we can all silently admit that the chance that a ‘white, straight, male’ did that is quite high. However she seems to be taking the axe instead of a scalpel in a desire to find a cure so the collateral damage are understandably striking back.
Clearly you’re not. I’m not going to take apart your argument piece by piece, it’s been taken apart many times by smarter people. But simply put, people are can’t imagine themselves in a role when no one looks like them. Men are not more creative, they just get more opportunities in agencies.
Fuck the boys club. The sooner there’s equality in creative, the better.
Sincerely,
Oldish straightish white male.
If you cannot make it in advertising as a white male, well, I don’t know what to say. You have every advantage and unconscious bias working in your favour. If you see a push to embrace equality as a threat to the point where you sue…… I mean, fuck, that’s pretty pathetic.
I am stunned that anyone can possibly be defending the actions of this ECD – if they are indeed proven to be true.
Discrimination is wrong. No matter who it is against. It is wrong to discriminate against people based on race, sexuality or gender. Even if the race is ‘white’ the sexuality is ‘straight’ or the gender is ‘male’.
Making excuses about ‘but but but I don’t think it is fair and equal now and it needs to be more equal’ is completely beside the point. If you are a woman and you feel you are being discriminated against just because you are a woman – stand up for yourself. All of us will cheer for you.
But I can hear you gender warriors silently cheering this woman on behind your keyboards. Yes, you @pathetic, and you @look at the stats. Shame on you. They are only asking to be treated fairly. Nothing more. If you are not in solidarity with them, then you are nothing more than base hypocrites.
Rant ended.
A one-eyed black Jew with the looks only his mother could love.
He’s the ultimate diversity hire.
Is JWT HR hiring?
Clear case of bigotry behaviour.
She had to go.
Her career has just stalled and is now untouchable.
Good riddance.
Sadly, Jo had the chance to make change for the good but she’s decided to be bitter and do exactly what she hated about the industry of the past. This makes her a poor leader (at the moment) but hopefully she learns from this because it’s going to cost JWT a lot of money. It’s a clear case for discrimination.
Are you saying that the statistics are wrong in terms of the people attracted to advertising? I made no comment about what happened to the people at JWT, because I don’t know.
I was referring to the commentator “I’m all for equality.”
If you can’t draw that from a simple paragraph on a comments section on a blog, then you shouldn’t be in the communications industry.
But please, rant on about insinuations you’ve placed in other people’s mouths and words that were never there.
This is what happens when someone is put into a management position because of their gender and not their creds. Her large swoop of hate for all white males is ignorant. Gay males have a very different experiences in the industry to straight men and straight white women, and a lot of straight men are supportive of all diverse people in this industry. She has a lot to learn about how things work.
I stand by my comments that some industries attract more males, some attract more females, and decrying ‘inequality’ isn’t necessarily the reason why; it’s just because males want to be mechanics, females want to be PR consultants, or ceramicists, or fashion designers, or textile designers, or songwriters, or whatever.
It has nothing to do with wanting to keep the status quo.
If you have 100 creative women, and 100 creative men, you can’t honestly think that they are all going split evenly across different creative industries 50/50? 20 guys and 20 girls arent going to want to be ad creatives. Not because of inequality, just because generally, less men want to be textile designers, and less women want to be bass players. I think in any given pool of creative people, less creative females are interested in a career in advertising, the same way less creative males want to be contemporary dancers.
If there is actual inequality because dinosaur CD’s aren’t hiring girls because they want to be surrounded by boys, then that clearly has to change. But I think there is far less of it than we make out to be. In fact, as this article demonstrates, I’d suggest the opposite is beginning to happen, as everyone is clambering to be seen as being ‘equal opportunity’.
No, I was referring to you being a gender warrior as I inferred you were from your facile attempt to turn the conversation away from what the article was actually about and into something something gender parity something something.
So are you kinda silently cheering on the actions of this executive? Or not?
And if you don’t want to comment on the JWT situation, then why for pete’s sake are you here?
Diversity good.
Referring to your staff as stale, pale white males – not so good.
Bet JWT is a hoot to work at right now.
So easy to tackle this important issue without creating a divisive environment.
But I guess that is the trend right now. If your’e not with me, you’re against me. Sill and childish. Hopefully one day we look back and say “what were we thinking”
Oh and..
“people are can’t imagine themselves in a role when no one looks like them”
Absolute nonsense. That’s pretty much the opposite of how imagination works.
I guess this answers the notion:
If you thought powerful men were bad
wait till you see women with power.
It appears she shares the same PR writer as one female Sydney CEO.
At least JWT Australia was merely ageist when they culled recently.
If you were over 40 you were toast – women, Asians and white straight males included.
With the quality of female hires like this woman, the gender pay gap seems about fair.
It’s not about hiring more women. But hiring the right calibre of female talent.
The issue is about equal pay for equal talent , regardless of gender.
It should never be about payback for old scores.
Nicely put.
I’ve really loved seeing the PALE MALE PARADE finally passionate about something. White straight men backing up other white straight men, at least it’s one less coward punch.
Can not wait until you are all extinct from this industry, backwards thinking isn’t going to get us anywhere.
…can’t wait for a response to ‘Pale Male Parade’….
“White straight men … Can not wait until you are all extinct from this industry”
Just IMAGINE if this quote was coming from male to female.
Your father would be ashamed of you.
Girls don’t want to be bass players and dinosaurs like you don’t want the world to move on. Get a grip mate. Consider for a second the idea ‘You can’t be what you don’t see’ and think about it’s effect on anyone’s desire to become a ______. Gender doesn’t mean you’re suited to a particular industry, treatment and perception of a gender tells people from early on what their acceptable career path is. Nothing will change without actively ensuring a creative department is balanced, just like how for generations the old boys ensured they were surrounded by like minded men. It’s time for a change.
Oldish straightish whitish male.
If you really believe you’re allies, then get out of the way and give up your positions for a more diverse range of staff. Especially if you acknowledge you’re part of the problem.
And this from a white, privileged, British, racist, sexist woman.
Not to mention heterophobic!
First of all @pale male parade #1, its 2018, don’t assume my gender sweetheart. I am non-binary, look it up dinosaur. We don’t have to be on complete opposite sides to have a different opinion.
Secondly @pale male parade #2, I wish I knew my daddy, are you my daddy? I could make a low sperm count joke here, but I can’t be bothered with that throw away comment.
Enjoy your day, whether that be throwing around any ball you find in an office or doing some actual work.
Wow, you’re just a bit naive and haven’t thought this through, have you?
Okay let’s break it down. White men get tossed from their jobs with your hearty endorsement. What do you think they’re going to do? Shrug their shoulders, shed a tear and go become labourers?
Not likely. It’s pretty much guaranteed some, if not many of them are actually pretty good at their jobs. There will be a whole bunch of new agency start-ups that are helmed by these men that are hungry and experienced. Not all of them will succeed, but some will. Some will even thrive.
I’m guessing in this scenario, a decent chunk of business will be taken away from the very companies that ditched them. Redundancies at the incumbents will result.
Perhaps you might be one of them. So, you’re on the streets and looking for a new gig. What agencies will be looking for people with your skills? Well, the new start-ups of course. The ones that are growing and not shrinking.
So, do you think these dastardly white men who were kicked to the kerb with your ugly triumphalism are going to have short memories? Really? Perhaps some of them will be big enough to call bygones bygones, but y’know, they might be a bit cautious after the way they were treated.
Perhaps a middle path might be more productive for you, don’t you think? How about calling out all discrimination, including that against white men, and not only that which gives you a jealous frisson of joy.
After all, when you follow through the logic to it’s final conclusion, that’s probably in not only your best interests, but for the diversity of the industry as a whole.
You’re right I shouldn’t have assumed your gender.
But what I can assume based on your earlier statement about making white men extinct is that your are racist and sexist.
Racism & sexism can only be activated from a position of power. It’s literally impossible to be racist and/or sexist towards white men, since they have all the power.
Read a damn sociology book sometime.
Sorry, nothing to do with power, the dictionary definition of racism:
Racism is the belief in the superiority of one race over another, which often results in discrimination and prejudice towards people based on their race or ethnicity.
this is literally not tumblr.
Um, no. Sociology textbooks actually aren’t legal documents. Their content would pretty much would get laughed out of any court in the country. They are theoretical texts which pretty much speak to an echo chamber of the types of people who read them. They no more are to knowledge what opinion columns are to news. Sure, they can be entertaining – but they don’t really count for much.
Racism and Sexism are things that are codified through law, and they are pretty specific about not discriminating against anyone because of their gender, sexuality, ethnicity and so on.
Might be time to get out of that little thought silo of yours and join the rest of us in the real world.
People of colour can be racist. Trust me. Ever heard of genocide, ethnic cleansing?
@everyone crying “racist, sexist”
I don’t understand what you are saying, this executive WAS in a position of power at JWT. And she activated that power. You seem a little confused…
That’s such a white male thing to say.
She is a WOMAN. Oppressed by MEN. Hence, no position of power here.
Yes it is. Smart, erudite and correct.
And @hold on. That is a seriously archaic statement.
Yes she is a woman, but she is the boss. With the power to hire and fire.
So therefore, not oppressed by anyone. That’s pretty clear.
Might be time to get over your victimhood and look at this case rationally.
To lump people together as a group based solely on their race or sex is the definition of the problem.
ironically Identity politics encourages tribalism and separation rather than the equality it claims to be fighting for.
Proof of that hypocritical behaviour seems to be evident above when people call out for ‘extinction’ of a particular race.
I seem to have heard that before somewhere. didn’t end well.
You’re under the delusion that because you identify yourself as ‘powerless’ (which I doubt anyway), you have the right to act like a racist sexist tyrant. At the very least admit that you have the same tendencies as those people you despise.
no… it is not archaic, it is common sense.
And to be honest, if you are more inclined to make an ad hominem attack like calling someone ‘archaic’ instead of a reasoned response about the issue itself, it’s most likely a sign that the intellectual foundations of your position are pretty flimsy than anything else.
Just sayin’
You really are a victim aren’t you. It wasn’t an attack. Merely pointing out how irrational you sound. Sorry, are. Just sayin. Now get back to blaming white men for your lack of success in advertising while ignoring the fact that you’re only in your role to make up numbers.
victim?
ad hominem comment – 2
rational response to the issue – 0