Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Sara Morić, Junior Community Manager, Dialog Komunikacije
Last month, most of the industry media reported on the news of the suspension of Kevin Roberts over his statements on gender diversity in the advertising industry, which he gave in an interview with Business Insider on 29 July. His interview has caused many reactions on social media from people who interpreted his statements as sexist and misogynist.
Let’s summarize some of his problematic statements:
- “The fucking debate (on gender diversity) is all over”.
- Unlike men, who have vertical ambitions, women have an “intrinsic, circular ambition to be happy”.
- On Cindy Gallop (consultant and activist who is trying to flag the gender inequalities within the industry) Roberts said “I think she’s got problems that are of her own making. I think she’s making up a lot of the stuff to create a profile, and to take applause.”
- On sexual discrimination Roberts said “I can’t talk about sexual discrimination because we’ve never had that problem (in Saatchi&Saatchi), thank goodness.”
Now, in the same order, I will try to explain why representatives of Saatchi&Saatchi and Publicis Groupe reacted within 24 hours and suspended Kevin, who resigned a couple of days later:
- The 3% Initiative noted that research from 2008 indicates that, although the number of women in advertising is almost equal to number of men, their ratio at positions of power varies considerably. Thus, the number of women in managerial positions, such as the posts of creative director and art director, amounts to only 3.6% and 9.6% respectively. In short, it would mean that the debate is not over and that women continue to have problems with getting to a position from where they can place their work in public. This presents a problem for the entire advertising industry, because the same study reveals that women control over 70% of purchasing power, while 91% of them feel that they the advertising industry doesn’t understand them. Let’s just remember the Saponia debacle. On the other hand, it is important to mention that the 2014 research by 3% Initiative indicated that there has been a growth in the share of women in the position of creative directors, and that in 2013 it amounted to 11.5%, which is an incredible jump of 319%. That is why it is important that the debate still rages on, that we exchange information and educate ourselves.
- From this almost dualistic philosophical statement we can read that Roberts thinks that women don’t care about climbing to certain position, but only happiness. This juxtaposition between the male desire for success and the female desire for happiness is interesting. Nina Power notes in her article that Roberts’ definition of success is a narrow definition that fits in the capitalist system, and that is power and dominance over others. Opposed to this cold system of power is the empathy and emotions that have historically been attributed to women.
- Remark on Cindy Gallop only proves how (un)seriously Kevin Roberts takes women in the industry, despite the fact that Cindy is one of the women with the longest experience in the advertising industry and has a deep insight into the profession from the perspective of women. Let’s not forget that Cindy presided over the Bartle Bogle Hegarty Committee in the United States and that in 2003 she received the Woman of the Year in Advertising award. She is also the initiator of a number of smaller platforms like IfWeRanTheWorld and MakeLoveNotPorn, and is a TED lecturer. So, her credibility and renown have long been established, and the need for instant fame is far from her goals and desires.
- The fact that Mr. Roberts personally never heard of a problem doesn’t mean that a problem doesn’t exist. After all, he who was in the highest positions of power doesn’t know the situation of women in lower positions than him. Given the low percentage of women in senior positions, the fact is that women generally don’t receive mentoring from other women, but have to adjust to their male mentors and their way of thinking, which gave birth to the Lean-in program that conforms to the system instead of critically thinking about changing it. Another thing is the lack of visibility of women in the positions such as those of creative directors, which gives the impression that this is a man’s world, and that we can never be part of it. Last, let us not forget that women are discouraged by motherhood, where they lose a precious year or more, which compared to their male counterparts at the same positions can mean delay in progress.
Although Kevin Roberts was suspended, and has resigned under the pressure of the Group, it doesn’t mean that something was accomplished, because he sees nothing wrong in his statements, which is especially evident if you read his apology in which he justifies his statements as a simple error in communication. Roberts also is neither the first nor the only one who dared to express such views, as we see in the almost sympathetic case of Tim Hunt who for his female colleague scientists said they cry when they are criticized, and easily fall in love with their male colleagues.
What will solve this problem is not firing the Robertses of this world when the problem surfaces. There are several ways in which we can leverage to ensure better positioning of women in advertising.
Let’s go back to the information from the research that states that 91% of women feel that the advertising industry doesn’t understand them. Why don’t we pass this information forward to our colleagues in the creative department, so maybe next time when they do a campaign targeted at women, they will hand the creative work to a woman. We also have the opportunities for further education, organizing workshops at the level of companies and a variant of women self-organization into a movement similar to that of the 3% Initiative, which is working on exactly these issues through conferences, public awareness, as well as government bodies and working groups. Discussions so far have certainly contributed to the increase in the number of women creatives in the advertising industry, but we must not stop there.