Truth in Advertising: Black People Are 7% of a Conveniently Contrite Industry
It is no surprise that in the aftermath of the worldwide uprising over centuries of violent racism the private business sector is jumping on the Black Lives Matter bandwagon.
In some ways, this is a good thing. When business joins in the struggle to end racism — more specifically anti-blackness and its attendant ills — that creates a powerful tool in the quest to change a nation’s behavior. In a perfect world racism wouldn’t just be shunned, it would be rooted out and destroyed in every aspect of American life. It would have happened hundreds of years ago.
But something rings hollow when companies that have, for all of their existence, been homogenous enterprises, espouse a sudden commitment to the cause of repairing the damage done by America’s antipathy toward blackness.
Put another way: owners and operators of marketing, advertising and creative agencies have had decades to hire and nurture Black people. Yet the industry remains staggeringly white.
This is not an accident and CEOs who have had endless opportunities to hire and retain Black employees only to opt fo more white faces are not just nakedly opportunistic when they claim to care about Black representation. They are utterly disingenuous.
Among marketing and advertising companies Black Americans account for 7% of the workforce; Hispanics also account for 7% of the workforce. (It should be noted that the census is as foolish as it is racist. “Hispanic” is no more a color than, say, “Californian.”)
It is insulting to the sacrifices and struggles we face to read dishonest commitments to building up Black representation from people who had no interest in doing so until cities around the country were literally on fire.
Black Americans account for only 4% of senior level roles. That is, high-paying jobs that will afford them the experience and influence to start agencies and firms of their own, hire other professionals of color and pass down their legacy the same way white professionals do in such huge numbers.
This is another contribution to the wealth gap between white (avg. $171K per family) and Black Americans (avg. $17K for Blacks).
It seems that decades of lip service paid to diversity has translated to the hiring of white women. 65% of marketing and advertising is comprised of white women. In fact, the most recent study of diversity and inclusion from the ANA found that women have achieved “near parity” in leadership roles.
If diversity started and stopped with gender we’d all be lining up for a good old fashioned back patting.
But consolidating wealth and authority into white hands, whether they be male or female, has always been the point of American racism.
And so here we are. Creative Directors, Presidents and CEOs who claim to care about inclusion would do well to take a good long look in the mirror.
It is insulting to the sacrifices and struggles we face to read commitments to building up Black representation from people who had no interest in doing so until cities around the country were literally on fire.
Are the only Black people in your office servants? Are they receptionists and assistants? If the answer is yes, I shouldn’t even need to tell you that you have a separate and unequal workplace.
For those well-meaning colleagues who really do want take steps but might not know where to begin I’ve added a few thoughts below.
A great place to begin are UGC platforms dedicated to our industry like Fishbowl and Glassdoor. There are several groups on Fishbowl for Black marketing professionals. They are anonymous which affords a certain level of candor. I encourage you to go look for yourself. If you own/operate a company take a look at Glassdoor. It might be uncomfortable but prizing your comfort above doing the right thing is in large part why there are (statistically speaking) no Black people in your office.
Some Thought Starters Based on Life Experience and Correspondence With Other Black Marketing Professionals:
Stop referring to your company as a “family.” You aren’t a family. You are a group of talented strangers who came together to accomplish something. A family looks alike. A family talks alike. A family is intimate. By encouraging your team to think of themselves as a “family” they will consider how someone fits into their social dynamic, rather than their merits, diversity, etc.
So when a group of white men and women are considering which candidate belongs in their “family” and they are presented with, let’s say, Taylor who lives in Venice, skateboards and has a fire Instagram account or, let’s say, Rayshard from Inglewood … people gravitate to what is comfortable. Who do you think your team would choose?
I know, I know: your team couldn’t possibly be racist. They are kind-hearted, liberal millennials who love Anderson Paak, hate trump and think Watchmen is the greatest thing ever created (next to The Wire of course).
Do they have a problem with your Black employee’s verbal delivery? Do you hear words like “edge,” “aggressive,” “in your face,” etc. Because for most whites, a Black man or woman who speaks deliberately and with confidence seems aggressive. This is a mechanism of latent racist fear which takes neutral demeanor for danger.
This is the same reason people could believe the absurdity that Trayvon Martin was the aggressor in his murder and not a boy who was being stalked by a grown man.
Does your Black employee seem isolated? When groups take off to grab a latte are they being invited? Do you see him or her having chats by the Keurig? (Also, please lose the Keurig. There’s no excuse for such bad coffee.)
(Second parenthetical: if you read the above and did not respond with “I work with more than one Black person” you are working in/operating a racist company.)
When you talk to your teams do things that are supposed to in the Black employee’s purvey seem to come as a surprise to him or her? This is a good way to gauge whether or not information is being kept from them.
Siloing information and responsibilities is a subtle way to make a teammate seem incompetent.
There is a chance the Black employee in question just isn’t very engaged for other reasons but it may also be a sign they are being ostracized.
No more tantrums, no more making people work into the wee hours to write the same line of copy in 100 different variations. Stability breeds positivity and positivity opens the door for people to change.
Are the only Black people in your office servants? Are they receptionists and assistants? If the answer is yes, I shouldn’t even need to tell you that you have a separate and unequal workplace.
And yes, they smile and make nice with you and your white employees and are utterly pleasant. That is a skill Black people have been employing for centuries. Without it many more of us would starve to death or just be victims of lynch mobs. We do it because we have to.
Some things you can do:
Talk to Black employees outside of the office and listen. Establishing trust will be a monumental task (because we learn early on not to trust whitey … don’t look at me, Steve Martin wrote that) but I promise you it is worth it. Every white American is a co-conspirator in this nation’s anti-Black agenda from birth. A majority are doing so against their will. Some without their knowledge. This disease has been given to you and you cannot even begin to extract it on your own.
Stop encouraging the “difficult genius” personality in ACDs, CDs and ECDs, et al. Giving anyone carte blanche to act like (and I’m speaking from loads of personal experience) a douchey adolescent creates an environment of instability and fear. Unstable environments encourage tribalism. Just stop that shit cold. No more tantrums, no more making people work into the wee hours to write the same line of copy in 100 different variations. Stability breeds positivity and positivity opens the door for change.
I know it feels like 100 years ago but Barack Obama proved that daring to dream of a cooler world can make us better people.
Finally: great leaders see opportunities that others don’t. Do you see those Black team members? Like, fully? Do you see their talents? Just because they are doing one job doesn’t mean they want to be doing that job, even if they are doing it well. They may have a talent and skill that can make your company’s product soar. You may have the ability to help a rising star take flight.
Consider what it would be like if you loved painting murals and murals were big business. But when you look at the mural-painting industry you only saw red headed mural painters. And you aren’t a redhead. And they all attended a wildly expensive red head academy that you and your brunette single-mom could never afford. Would you even bother trying to paint murals professionally?
You probably wouldn’t even dream of it. Because when you look at that industry the only jobs brunettes have are as receptionists and assistants. In fact no one outside of mural painting has a clue of just how exclusively red-headed mural painting is. Sure, there are one or two exceptions but ultimately you know that job could never be yours.
Change takes ruthless self-reflection. No one said this would be easy.
