Monday, November 03, 2008

6120: M+P = MB+BS+WTF.


There’s a rumor on the road that says Mercedes-Benz dumped its multicultural advertising agencies, allowing its White shop to drive off with the minority assignments. Apparently, the automaker currently has no multicultural projects or minority agencies on retainer for 2008 or 2009. This accelerates a disturbing trend rolled out by clients like General Motors. Apparently, the fact that Blacks, Latinos and Asian Americans account for 30 percent of Mercedes-Benz sales doesn’t translate to needing marketing expertise with the audiences. Or perhaps it’s cosmic compensation for the probable Barack Obama victory.

What makes this rumor particularly obscene is the White shop rides in the Omnicom network—where racism, homophobia, diversity adversity and biased scheming run full throttle.

But wait, there’s more.

The White shop is none other than Merkley + Partners. This agency holds the distinction of recording the worst results after signing a hiring pact with the New York City Commission on Human Rights. According to the official report, in the first year of the agreement, Merkley + Partners recruited a whopping zero minorities.

But hey, maybe the rumor is false. In which case, please disregard everything in this post. Except for the stuff about racism, homophobia, diversity adversity, biased scheming and hiring zero minorities.

No comments: