The Untenable Life of White Men in Advertising.

Let’s trade places for a minute. Take a walk with me:

You’re a 20-something White Male in advertising. A big-city ad agency copywriter. You came out of portfolio center and immediately cleared shelf-space at your first gig for all those gold lions and fat pencils you learned about back in college. It’s taken a couple years, but you’re feeling really good about your latest campaign. It’s the final tremor before the avalanche of industry awards comes your way.

You present it to the client…

Um, what’s ‘White Male’ about this? They respond.

 “Uh, what?”

They clarify: “The target audience is white men 25-34... So what makes this campaign unique to white men?”

Now you have to explain what’s “White Man” about your spot of an NFL QB pranking a fan in a convenience store or your TV spot is dead and no trip to Cannes for you. So, the wheels turn and you scramble to defend your work; now the client who IS NOT a white male, and from what you’ve seen over time—doesn’t hire many white males—interrupts you:

“We have research. We know White Males. They’re not big on football. They prefer golf.”

Your account director (also not a white male) jumps in: “Easy fix—country club. Everyone in khakis. Right, copywriter? White guys like khakis.”

Client agrees. Football out, golf in… Your spot is completely off the rails now. But you bite your tongue. Go back to your office and you flip your script.

Client reviews and approves it.

Now you’re in production. Almost nobody involved is white—not the producer, not the director… it’s just you, a couple PAs and the security guard. The client ignored your casting specs for a Jim Harbaugh a-alike who hasn’t sniffed a PGA Top 10 since Obama’s first term. And the budget is a fraction of what they spend on other markets.  Why? Because the client defines R.O.I. as “How much can we get out of White Men for as little effort and as least expense as possible?”

You go back to that empty awards shelf of yours. You down half a bottle of Finlandia and place it there along with a coupla Walking Dead graphic novels and your dead dreams.

Don't worry too much about winning awards. What you've over the years is that most awards shows don't have White Male or White Female judges. So the idea of what is award-winning work actually varies by the opinion of folks who look nothing like you. A few judges will talk to you about "universal truth" as the standard and insights "everyone can relate to". But you've already learned that varies by the universe they're in. Doesn't mean you haven't won any awards, it just means you mad more than a few questions about the one they won for work that was "less than universal."

Anyway, after a decade-plus of this soul-crushing circus, you strike out on your own. “MY name MY clients MY way…” you vow.

You launch. Site is live. Staff is hired. Office space is leased. As you hunt for clients Industry Overseers™ (4As, AAF, etc.) step in: “Congrats on your new venture. But as a White male, the most market share your agency is allowed to achieve is thirty-two percent.

Why?

Because White Males are 32% of the total America population. So, it doesn’t matter how dope your agency’s work is. Doesn’t matter how much revenue white male consumers generate for your clients (they often over-index for their population). Doesn’t matter how much media White male audiences consume. You’re still a White male owned agency and therefore cannot garner more than 32% of the industry. It wouldn’t be fair to the other demographic groups.

To ensure that no white owned ad agency breaches 32%, brands vow to never spend more than 32% of their consumer budgets any individual white-owned agency or white agencies in total. Same goes for White-owned PR firms, White-owned media platforms, vendors, etc. The rest of the brands’ budgets which exponentially larger go towards other, more valued groups.

Also, Mr. White Male Agency, you’ll be limited to accounts and projects that skew towards White Male consumers, as that’s who clients think you’re best qualified to reach. And you won't even sniff an RFP or opportunity to target any other consumer group. Sorry, but those accounts are too big and too sophisticated for you anyway.

Furthermore, brands will often expect your work to not only appeal to White males, but to also draw (at least some) non-white male consumers, even if you have to water down your work to appeal to other groups in the process. (Oh, and you won’t get paid extra for doing so and you might lose money if you don’t.)

Also, we’ve about heard your White male peer who launched a white-owned TV channel targeting mainly white consumers. (“White Entertainment Network” is a great name, by the way!) But just so they know our “white agency” rules apply there as well. White Male consumers are about 32% of the US, so no matter what audience numbers they pull, brands will never spend more than 32% of their media buys with any white owned platform. So, your best shot at growth will be via content that pulls more than the White Male demo, even though your media rates cannot reflect that. (Wouldn’t be fair to other demos, yakow.)

Lastly, we’ll likely won’t spend 32% of our budgets with you as that’s more of a philosophical goal. A blue-sky what-if if you will. For perspective, last year we spent about 3% of our budgets on White media and agencies. We were pretty pleased with that.

 Now obviously, this isn’t really being done to White Men or White Women. Quite the opposite, in fact: As of 2022, Whites account for over 80% of the advertising industry professionals while holding an estimated 88% of management and executive level positions. (Both are all time lows, by the way.) Also in 2022, US brands still dedicated nearly 90% of their ad budgets to targeting the "General Market" of whom White Men and White Women remain unimpeachable center of.

Conversely, Blacks make up just 6.1% of the ad industry professionals, while comprising just over 2% of upper-level management positions. And on average Black professionals are paid an estimated 29% less than their White counterparts, often for doing the same or greater work.

And since Back consumers are roughly 12% of the US population (as of 2022) many brands publicly claim to spend around 12% of their budgets on Black agencies and platforms targeting Black consumers. But, according to Nielsen's 2022 report on Black inclusion in media, more than 6,000 advertisers on spent about 3% of their budgets to connect with African American consumers. Black agencies are still stuck at the back of the industry bus battling each other for clients' crumbs and ad hoc afterthoughts.

So why don't more Black agencies or Black advertising professionals complain or speak out? They do—but mostly behind the scenes. And have been doing so for decades to no avail.

And don't let all these performative Black History Month antics and George Floyd fuel crocodile tears fool you. As a Black agency or Black media platform you have to take the peanuts offered or you get nothing—be shut out of RFPs and projects. And as a Black individual you risk get Blackballed for speaking out too loudly. I've seen a lot of Black pros get Blackballed over the years.

Or "whiteballed." if that's more relatable to you.

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