Comments on: Ad Agencies, ‘Last Corporate Bastion of Jim Crow’

By: Peter Verkooijen

Peter Verkooijen — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:07:38 +0000

Cyrus Mehri is on the board of advisors of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a front group for the mullah’s lobby in Washington:

english.iranianlobby.com

By: Andy

Andy — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:28:32 +0000

I used to work in advertising on the West coast. There were virtually no Blacks in the creative departments anywhere. I knew of just three.

I asked a Black copywriter how come there were so few Blacks in the business. He said that he didn’t know. I asked another the same question. He said, “It’s just off the radar.” Neither one mentioned racism.

I once got a call from a big agency asking me if I knew any black creative people (writers and art directors). They wanted to hire one. I mentioned the ones I knew. They both been approached by the agency but neither one wanted a full-time job. (They were both successful freelancers.)

Don’t know what happens on the account side, but from my experience, being a Black creative person would be an advantage.

By: Claire

Claire — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:58:41 +0000

Does anybody know if the pool of candidates is available for the job qualifications? If college graduation rates are lower then they should be, perhaps there just aren’t the candidates yet?

By: Hoag Levins

Hoag Levins — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:08:08 +0000

VIDEO: Cyrus Mehri’s Statement
> NEW YORK (YouTube.com/AdAge) — The issue of the advertising industry’s diversity hiring practices, which seemed to have settled down, flared anew Thursday. Attorney Cyrus Mehri orchestrated a dramatic press conference and the release of new study documenting racial disparity throughout the ad agency business.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJDD0kERpdc

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:20:37 +0000

Wow lisa ann, that’s the same excuse racists have been using for years to keep blacks from fairly obtaining jobs. If you don’t get the difference you are part of the problem. Blacks can’t hide their skin color and so have been more discriminated against than most other races in education and jobs. Believe me I know plenty of intelligent, very hard working blacks that have been passed over for “some reason” yet they were very highly qualified. it happens every day! Many very light skinned blacks have succeeded in the corporate world because they passed for white. Even in countries with majority black populations, the darker your skin the less you succeed. So, like it or not, you must look at skin color and stop pretending that it is not a factor in job success until someday we rise above stealthy race discrimination.

By: lisa ann

lisa ann — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:01:33 +0000

when will the world and employers stop looking at the color of a persons skin, and purely look at their qualifications. People are not in control of what race or nationality they are born in to, but are in control of how hard they work, how eager they are to learn more, and how they conduct our selves in the professional arena.