Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Seven brides for seven creative brothers

I saw an article the other day that made me kind of sad. It appeared to demonstrate just how one sided the advertising industry still is.

Important obvious disclaimer:: This is in no way a criticism of the work of these individuals.

It was in Brand Republic, and happily declared that Saatchi's in London had announced seven new creative hires!

Hurrah. Always good to see creative talent given an opportunity to join such a great agency. I wonder who they are?

White guy, dark hair.
White guy, dark hair.
White guy, dark hair.
White guy, dark hair.
White guy, dark hair.
White guy, dark hair.
White guy, ginger hair.

Now clearly these guys are good, or they wouldn't get these roles. But surely there must be a good female creative out there, or even a team, that's worth hiring? The photo looks a bit like a shot of a well dressed hipster band, you could probably pick them out as creatives from a mile away. Again, there's nothing specifically wrong with that style, but surely as an industry we need to have more people with different styles and viewpoints?

The industry has been lacking in female creatives for such a long time, and we still are far too lacking in people of black or mixed race backgrounds. It's been getting better, and I'm sure (and hope) Saatchis would be able to point out plenty of women and people of non-white backgrounds in the department...

But it still looks like a reminder of the bad not so old days, and that's a shame.

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