The film I worked on this summer, "Pursuit of Passion: Diversity in Advertising" went live online today. And I will be the first to admit it won't change diversity in industry. It won't all of sudden make agencies hire and promote more multi-cultural candidates. It won't make it easier for lower income ethnic students to access schools and programs to get them into this industry. This film doesn't claim it will do any of this.
Here's what this film will do: this film will encourage students to consider advertising as a career; this film will give students a perspective on advertising they haven't seen before, one that is honest and frankly, exciting; this film will allow multi-cultural students to see that there are successful, intelligent and pretty fun people just like them, making their way in this business; this film will ignite passion in students who are often too young to recognize their own creativity; and this film will give students a tiny bit of direction in their lives where they may have been none.
That's it. The film doesn't claim to be the be-all, end-all to this issue. But it will claim to be a concerted effort toward making a bigger change in our industry, starting one high school student at a time.
2 comments:
Here is what i have noticed at one of the best agencies in the country. For juniors, talent only get you so far when you are minority.
There are quite a few extremely talented multicultural (non white) youngsters in the agency I'm working at. But when it comes to hiring and promotion, the white kids, even though less talented, got hired and promoted faster. Minority ones have to work harder and prove themselves so much more. The system has never been a leveled playing field.
The truth is that, people (senior creatives) feel more comfortable working with the ones that are like themselves, in advertising this means white and male.
The creative management needs to be more sensitive when it comes to the issue of diversity. Theses kids need more guidance and attention, not because they are less capable, but because they are swimming up stream and the system is more likely than not working against them.
I really enjoyed watching the video. I agreed with Marissa Shrum, who said, "I've always been an ideas person... I won't ever be be happy unless I let that creativity out."
Great video, I hope inspires people!
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