For about the last two weeks there has been much talk about discrimination in our industry and the almost complete lack of diversity. (As an aside, there is little chatter in the trades about ageism, though people over 40 in the industry, not to mention 50, or nearly 60 are as scare as back hair on a dolphin.)
I somewhat think all this talk of diversity misses a more macro issue in our world.
Let's be honest.
Wages are down. I believe (conjecture only, they are lower than wages of 20 or even 30 years ago.)
Bonuses are caput.
Job security is nil.
All the money in the industry is sucked up by holding company chieftains and other anointed who are so far removed from the creation of ads that it's almost laughable.
Meanwhile we are, or have been, as an industry, commoditized. More often than not accounts go to the lowest-cost provider. We have not staked a claim as to our worth in building brands or driving sales.
Why would we, under all these circumstances, decry our lack of diversity.
The bigger question in my mind, is this: why would anyone want to enter the business.
To sit at a desk amid pandemonium. To work ridiculous hours for stagnant wages. To work for decades and then be deemed obsolete because you're no longer "cool," or tatted or skinny.
The issue isn't one merely of diversity. Clearly diversity is important.
But there's a bigger issue.
There's the issue of making our industry, again, a decent one in which to work.
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