Where Are All The Black Males — In Advertising

There is a real problem in our world, especially in that of advertising and it has been bugging me for the past few months. This issue has become even more pressing since I moved from North Carolina to Los Angeles a little less than a year ago.

Since the move, I have applied and/or interviewed with upwards 30+ agencies and, of all the ones that I have spoken to, I can count the number of black males I have seen on both…actually only one of my hands.

Of the men that I have seen, none of them have actually held much leadership weight within the agency.

Overall, I have talked with an extremely limited number of people of color (POC) and none of them have been black men at all.

I have found this thought growing steadily in my brain,

How, as I am interviewing, can I be judged correctly or even fully fairly by people who can’t relate to my background, my world view, my daily reality?

The answer to that, I don’t fully know but it is bothersome that I have to even ask.

Advertising is a tricky industry. There are unspoken rules and regulations that no one will ever tell you about. What is most unfortunate is that, a lot of POC never get the opportunity to learn these things because the opportunities for them to build their awareness or grow their connections is limited compared to other races.

Now, this isn’t a complaint but a fact. There is a really great line I love in last episode of season 2 of Atlanta, where Paper Boy (the rapper the show is based around) is looking for a music lawyer. He makes it a specific point to say that he wants a Jewish one.

Earn (Donald Glover and his manager) gets into a discussion with a jewish guy, later on in the episode, who tells him about how good his cousin is at law.

Earn then asks the guy if he believes if there are any black lawyer who’s are as good as his cousin. His response is the one of the realest of the show,

“There definitely is. But part of being good at your job is your connections and black people just don’t have the connections my cousin has … for systemic reasons.”

There are certain industries that do a really good job of keeping people out, especially if you don’t fall into certain, definable/relatable buckets or don’t have connections that can truly vouch for you. Unfortunately, advertising is one of those industries.

Agencies claim to promote diversity, but I don’t believe the vast majority fully know what that means.

I mean, how could they, especially when many are run by leadership who can hardly be classified as diverse.

It is continually and societally proven that, “birds of a feather, flock together.” Within these agencies hiring appears, from what I have seen, to be far easier when you look like the people whom you are going into interview with.

All you have to do to prove this is get on Google and search for some of the top advertising/creative agencies in the country and scroll through their team pages. They all generally look the same (sidenote there are a lot of women within advertising, despite what society and trendy hashtags would have you believe, what there isn’t a lot of is black men leading or even in these top places).

To get you started here is a good list you can find on Adage. Of the 10 top agencies featured only 3 of them appeared to have a POC within the team picture in the article, but, here’s where it gets good — when I dug a little deeper and went into the agencies website to view the leadership, I was not able to find them there.

Of the websites that I did see a POC in leadership, they were not male and they were stuck in roles like “Chief Talent Officer,” which fails in actually importance when compared to that of a “Chief Executive Officer,” or “Chief Operational Officer,” “Chief Creative Officer,” or “Chief Strategic Officer.”

No one will explicitly say this but it something I am beginning to understand more and more, especially in advertising, is how much damage the poignant stigma is around the “black male,” and how much, despite experience levels, educational backgrounds, level of colloquial intelligence, or outward appears you are still viewed through the tiny lens that society and entertainment mandates.

Take my own life for example, I have an engineering & Poly-sci degree, have actually start and run 2 brands/companies, one being a profitable agency (that was named by Agency Spotter as #3 on a list of 20 rising small agencies in the country), worked for a global brand to bring more strategy & aesthetic cohesion (they wanted someone to help “urbanize” the brand…), and actually love marketing/advertising (yes, despite what you think, not everyone that works in this industry actually likes it.)

I am actually good at it and enjoy it so much I run a side project called Advertising’s Not Dead where we cover interesting marketing/ad campaigns and breakdown what made them work.

Despite all of those things, I have found it increasingly difficult to be taken seriously in this industry, because I don’t fit into a nice neat mold of what I am suppose to be or what many are use to seeing.

To further break down this point try typing in “African American Creative Directors,” in Google, this is what comes up:

A similar thing comes up when you try to look for prominent agencies that are lead by a men of color or even POC. After clicking through the links I was hardly able to find what I was looking for, as a lot of credit and articles have been written that prominent feature non-POCs (they for sure do deserve it, I will add).

It’s almost embarrassing that, in 2019, this is where we are, so I have a short letter for agencies out there, because something needs to change.

Dear Ad Agencies,

The world is far more diverse than it has ever been, yet things still appear to be stuck in the past. Yes, progress has been made but, when you think about it, has it really?

There is an interesting fact about wisdom/progress the more you have of it, the more you realize how little you have of it and that is exactly where we are. While some progress has been made it clearly shows how much farther we actually have to go.

Yes, POC are now allowed to try and freely “come to the table,” but far too little of them are allowed to lead or sit at the head of the table.

The claims that diversity is a high priority for a lot of these agencies may, in part be true, but real diversity, like most other values, trickles from the top down.

An agency built and designed by those of a certain background by default attracts the same type of person, especially in leadership roles. This leads to a greater opportunity for advancement or the proper opportunities to then prepare them for leadership roles.

Maybe deep down, you have actually been thinking that you have been doing all that you can, but that’s not correct. When agencies, who’ve had a systematic approach to it’s industry, based on how/when they were created, are not being led by POC or minorities in general it serves as a double edged sword.

On one end you are capping the power of diverse thought which helps to bring out the best and most unique ideas that actually speak to a diverse audience, properly, and on the other end it helps to grow and pave the way for the industry itself by showcasing what is possible and/or how it can be possible.

Now not all POC should be leading the entire company but there should be many in important roles that dictate the future of more than just a campaign based around “urban” needs.

There needs to be more and better representation, across the board from leadership all the way down to recruiters because there is a big problem in this industry and it is being ignored in the pursuit of scoring points by hopping onto trendy “diversity” slogans or campaigns.

The world, both from an industry and societal standpoint needs you to change because you have the power of influence over so many minds through the work that is done.

It’s time to start opening the doors and allowing POC to sit at the head, period.

Thanks,

Charles

Things will only change when we all work together agencies, recruiters, schools, and especially publications like Adage, Adweek, and Digiday that cover the advertising world.

It is possible, it will just take one agency at a time to make all the difference.