I might be late to this party but I just read this interview on Ad Age with Neil French, the creative chief at WPP. In the interview, French shrugs his shoulders and tries hard to dismiss his decision to quit the company as just one of theose things that happen. (Link through adrants. The Ad Age interview requires free registration to read).
Wait. Why did he quit? Because of a comment he made earlier about how some women in advertising are crap because of their inability to commit themselves 100 percent to the job due to childcare issues. Uh?
From the fascinating interview –
I’m well-known for being as outrageous as I can to make the point that I want to make. Advertising is hyperbole and I exercise hyperbole as much as I can, but I laugh when I’m doing it. You can’t storyboard a smile, as somebody said.
Oh yes, I am laughing very hard. And I am reading on and gasping for breath and laughing some more. Because he calls this issue death by blog. Of course, it’s one woman getting her knickers in a twist and writing a long diatribe on a Web site and then all the other people with nothing to do joining in. Some were on my side, some were not on my side.
Now excuse me while I stop laughing just for a few seconds and go puke, and then go search for the other women who got their knickers into a twist over this offensive piece of cluelessness. (Will link to them here as and when I find – if you know of any other sites / blogs which have written about this, please let me know. Incidentally French is the advertising world’s “person with the most awards”.)
Read : Female like me, the excellent piece on this by Nancy Vonk, Co-Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy Toronto. Neil did us the favor of voicing a widely held view, albeit an extreme version. It’s an opportunity for us all—men, too—to confront something every bit as wrong and unacceptable as racism. (Replace every comment Neil made about women with the word ‘black’ and take my point). Go read the entire post. And if you are interested, do read the comments too, they are as interesting and revealing as the post itself.
And the media reports : Economic Times grandly announces He spoke about women & lost his job – in which case, I am surprised any of us is still holding a job…
The Telegraph says it straight – Advertising chief loses job over French maid and sexist insults.
Pity they didn’t think of French loses job over French maid.
Hey have blogged about it too. The guy is a moron
open mouth, insert foot.
but the guy has actually vocalised what a lot of people believe. i have heard so many times in my career – the girl is good but lets’ hire the guy kyonki ladki ki shaadi ho jayegi, bacha hoga and then professional committment will go through the window.
and the reverse, married female co workers have told me the reason i got ahead in my career was because i wasn’t ‘lumbered’ with a husband and kids:)
shoefiend, moron is saying it mildly! (Nancy Vonk’s post was superb and heartfelt, wan’t it?)
Harini, normal procedure that follows, open mouth again, remove foot and use it to kick self.
with French, open mouth, shove foot in further till choke point – the Martin Sorrels of the world did not get where they are by practising (blatantly atleast) or even condoning political incorrectness…
but yes, the sad part is he just said out what a lot of others believe – and this is not jsut in advertising…
Charu,
I wrote Point 1 on shoe-fiend’s site also:
1. WHERE ARE THE MEN? Why isn’t there more of a discussion on how work & family are incompatible in general for BOTH men and women? Why does balancing work have to be SOLELY a woman’s choice? I am very curious to know what the husbands and boyfriends of these women who balance work and career are like. Are they also trading off, or is there no adjustment in their lives? What does Neil French’s wife or girlfriend for example do?
2. I wonder if in some way we women also contribute to this stereotype. First, I see many women who resist taking up powerful or competitive jobs. They cite “choice” and fulfilment as their reason. BTW, I really do think this is great – no one should be forced into a job they don’t like. But I see this primarily happening among women, which leads me to think that as long as mostly women, rather than men think about fulfilment and choice, we are going to have to face underrepresentation in positions of power which call for doing unpleasant jobs round the clock. Second, I have found that while my male colleagues are competitive and constantly talk about jobs, careers etc, my women friends are more likely to talk about their families, finding something that fulfils them and balancing work-life at the stage of life we are in. There is also very little disapproval or argument when my female friends decide to go parttime, free lance or give up their jobs and I am not speaking of those who must do it because of childbirth complications. As a result very few of us women (unfortunately, I count myself in the majority, but am desperately trying to make up for it) have not taken a career break either to relocate with the significant other or for kids. At the same time, i find far fewer of my male colleagues who have taken career breaks – I can think of three very interesting men: one, who took 6 months off to look after his baby, another who followed his wife to London where she studied for her MBA and a third, who moved in with his wife’s parents so that he and his wife can continue to work while having their child looked after. But these are a tiny insignificant minority of men I know.
I am dying to be proved wrong on this and told that no, we women are equally competitive, that my particular experience is an outlier. And so I am curious, do you Harini, Charu, ShoeFiend find the same in your professions – that women are less competitive and they drop out of their own accord? Or do you think its more the icy reception they get in corporate life, the way the cards are stacked agains tthem from the beginning (as Nancy Wonk says) that makes it hard for them to sustain things?
Cheers
Anon
when you are done puking, kindly point out what was it that this chap said that you find so offensive ? I cant find the original article, only the interview.
Many women are not able to give 100% to their jobs because of responsibilities that they choose (however un/willingly) to take up. Child bearing, baby-care and so on. As a result their careers suffer and they do not do as well as their male colleagues. Ofcourse, men suffer in their careers too, when say – they are having a baby. Where I work, there are many young fathers and they come in with red eyes all the time – “the baby kept me up all night yesterday”. Its a known and understood fact that their productivity is nowhere close to 100% during these stressful times and everybody around understands it. They dont receive their bonuses and promotions during this period and that is understood too !!
All this above is a statement of fact, has that become a crime now ?
Sudeep
I work in a WPP agency, and we got a bunch of mails from the globe assuring all females (i assume) that the agency doesnt share the sentiments. Created quite a stink i believe.
At the agency where he was Godfather, gadfly and guru, they buried him overnight.
What is really stupid was he was trying to justify it…
But he still is a damn good copywriter
You know what, it’s not only women who have to manage career, life, family and stuff in advertising. men do too. I’ve seen men crap at work for they were going through some relationship problem and i’ve seen women crap at work for the same reasons. I’ve seen men not able to handle to pressure of advertising and family jointly and quit prematurely, but I don’t know many women who quit advertising because of family issues. (some have stayed on and become cds, but they sucked for a totally different reason altogether 😉 )
Anon (whose name appears in my email notification of this comment:)), yes, why is there no discussion of how difficult it is in LIFE – for both men and women to balance family and work – it does not even have to be with respect to babies. both demand commitment which most of us struggle to provide.
Incidentally, french in the ad age interview mentions his wife who has chosen not to have a baby because she wanted to focus on her job. “I know two female creative directors who are at the top of the tree but they either spent a long time before they had a [family] or decided not to have one because they’d rather have a career. I was married to one, for God’s sake, I know this.”
I think at some point, someone in the families has to compromise and live with the fact that it is a compromise solution – and as I see it, it is more often the woman who chooses to ‘go easy’ on the job front.
Interestingly, I have also seen women who stay on and focus on their jobs even after babies – and they get panned much worse – they sudden become uncaring mothers, “aggressive and ambitious” women from successful professionals. have seen many instances of this…
Sudeep, I have not yet stopped puking – because of having to understand and deal with assorted offensive comments from various neil frenches on other blogs as well.
Cynic, good for you! am glad you all breathed a sigh of relief on seeing the mail. as I said earlier in response to Harini, the M Sorrels of the world did not get knighted and ceo material by being politically incorrect.
Ravages, yes that is what got to me most. he said it – no, oops, I did it again or a graceful sliming uot atempt. he went ahead and tried to justify it and shrug it off as why all the fuss. and that makes it worse – to me and everyone else who was watching.
and yes, managing family and career is tough for each of us – man, woman. in case of women, i think the expectations are more on the home front – as in, child-care is considered a woman’s responsibility largely…