Friday, December 12, 2008

6246: Word To The Wise.


Adweek published another ridiculous rambling from Lowe creative leader Mark Wnek. The man appears to be making an argument for the value of age and wisdom in our industry. Whatever. While praising advertising agency mcgarrybowen, Wnek cracked one comment that sorta demonstrates age has not blessed him with wisdom:

Like anybody with their head down plugging away and doing a great job in this business, mcgarry has its detractors. And its detractors have a single-minded bent: The agency is too old. CEO John McGarry is 66, CCO Gordon Bowen is 58 and chief strategy officer Stewart Owen is 57. “I hear you’re pitching against the Cocoon agency,” a reporter chortled to me once. It’s like old is the new gay, something to make snide jokes about around the watercooler.

Old is the new gay? What the hell does that even mean? Is the man admitting Madison Avenue also routinely shows disrespect and bigotry to gays? And here we thought it was just Omnicom. At a time when the ad biz faces increased scrutiny over its discriminatory ways, these types of remarks don’t seem very wise.

P.S., Wnek has been criticized for insensitivity to gays in the past.

1 comment:

HustleKnocker said...

and some big mag just said Gay is the new Black...

At least this clown admits that folks make snide comments about gays.

the agency biz is dying. my money is on the auto industry to recover first.