How Are We Doing as an Industry?

In 2020/21 many in the marketing & advertising fields made “promises” to be better, lead change, and achieve goals for diversity, including increased spending levels. In 2023, there has been much discussion around the industry not achieving those stated goals. Efforts to focus on DEI became challenging to realize, and other business pressures distracted us from the focus on DEI efforts. This section looks and some of the common missteps regarding DEI, and show how in some cases, how we actually move in the wrong direction despite good intentions.

Agencies owned or run by white execs jump to 90%, 4A's diversity report finds

Survey shows diversity actually worsened in some areas, such as creative, last year.

In 2021, 73% of Agency Leaders Were White. Now It's 90%.

How agency execs are pushing diversity forward while the industry goes backward.

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DEI Action Is In, and Diverse Media Needs More Budget Share

Stop measuring investment in terms of meeting social responsibility targets.

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Three Reasons Why Diversity, Equity And Inclusion Efforts Fail

There are three reasons why your company's diversity, equity and inclusion efforts fail, these include employee fatigue, backlash, and denial of inequality. Here Lily Zheng shares what we can do to tackle these issues.

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Diverse representation in video ads receded in 2022, analysis finds

A study of 1 million video ads running between 2019 and 2022 found Hispanic representation the most severely impacted, hitting a four-year low.

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5 reasons your DEI initiatives implode

The CEO and founder of Maximum Communications offers a frank perspective on what makes well-intentioned programs blow up or fizzle out.