Are white male creative directors are ruining advertising?

Published 18/04/2019 by

The reason 89% of advertising is forgotten is because white men in London are the ones making the ads, according to Paul Mellor, owner and design director at Mellor&Smith.

It’s all well and good for industry figures like Cindy Gallop and Sir Martin Sorrell to be calling to change the ratio, but the latter promotes white males and symbolises everything that’s wrong with the industry.

“It's the reason why 89% of advertising is forgotten,” said Mellor. “I should come clean; I am a white male creative director and we are part of the problem. If you type ‘creative director’ into Google, there are hardly any women. White fellas in London are signing off advertising for the rest of the country when they don’t understand those people.”

Mellor made the bold suggestion along with referring to five more things that are giving the industry a bad name. They include the idea of ‘digital’ marketing, data, millennials, artificial intelligence and the London bubble.

“It was so cool it got banned by the government and made kids want to copy it.”

Expanding on the view that too much emphasis is being placed on data in today’s ad scene, Mellor said that brands and agencies need to be bold and take more risks to be different and stand out.

“The best ads in the world, the ones we still talk about from 30 years ago were not based on data. If you think about the Tango ad that HHCL created with a big orange guy who smacked people in the face – I don’t think there were any data insights in that,” said Mellor. “It was so cool it got banned by the government and made kids want to copy it.”

His talk was delivered at Creativepool’s Connect: London, which you can view in full below. Mellor is a regular public speaker on creative risk-taking. Connect with him here and see more talks like this at Connect: London.

Tom Law April 23rd, 2019, around noon

To be honest, I find this somewhat racist.

Joe Vasquez April 23rd, 2019, around noon

What a stupid article.

Si Smith April 23rd, 2019, in the afternoon

Have to agree as well with the other comments, if you replace the word 'white' with any other ethnicityeveryone would have called this racist.

Neill Furmston April 23rd, 2019, in the afternoon

I find this article racist, abhorent and in some respects, ill informed.

Yes, there needs to be more diveristy in the creative industries, but making a slur against all white Creative Directors is a step too far.

Fuck you and fuck your own shitty ideas.

I try my best every single day to create memorable ideas. There are a number of factors that often get in the way from me creating the great work I set out to do. Often a client isn't willing to push the boundaries or take any risks, the brief is perhaps more functional than creative or the budget simply doesn't give the idea enough breathing space. Not one factor is my being white.

There are other ways to champion diversity than to condemn white Creatives Directors to an early grave. If I want to understand my audience I make sure I speak to them, whoever they may be.

Jackson Brown April 23rd, 2019, late afternoon

Racist and sexist. End of.

Imagine thinking this is ok to write about ANY sex or gender!

To see creative pool giving this shit a platform is mental.

Paul West April 23rd, 2019, late afternoon

Replace either white or male with any other gender or race and this article wouldn’t be published.

It’s okay though, as it’s a white prick bashing other whites.

Creative Director April 23rd, 2019, in the evening

Advertising doesn't have a white male problem, it has a lack of diversity and inclusion problem. There's certainly a correlation but the edgy headline is 'taking a fucking risk' of losing the audience.

Mellor&Smith