Lack of Diversity in Advertising

The 2010 census provided important information to those who are currently working within the advertising industry. The census provided insight on the number of minority consumers, which continues to increase with each year that passes by. The censuses showed that there are a total of 50 million Latino individuals located in the United States, along with 15 million Asian individuals and 40 million Africans. There were also millions of people who could not identify themselves as just one single race. And, even with so much diversity in the United States, advertising agencies are struggling to get the diversity within their own companies. The industry has been working on getting more minority employees, especially for the entry-level positions so that these individuals could work their way up the ladder. However, it is still a work in progress.

The Advertising Club of New York has decided to work on an initiative that is all about promoting diversity within the advertising industry. The initiative is going to be referred to as I’mpart. The last four letters of the initiative is part and that stands for promote, attract, retrain and train. It is all about following the steps that are going to need to be taken in order for diversity to increase within the advertising industry. The Advertising Club is paying around $700,000 for the initiative. The money was raised by selling plenty of advertising space both online and in print. A number of print magazines have participated in making donations, including Family Circle, Essences and Time. There were some digital donations that came in from AOL, Forbes, Daily Candy and several others.

The chief executive for the Advertising Club of New York, Gina Grillo, has said, “It’s about talking to everybody in the business and raising the issue of diversity in our business.” She believes it is quite essential to have diversity in the workplace, especially in the advertising industry. The number of minorities currently working within the advertising and marketing industry is quite low. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, by August of 2011, there were only a total of 78,000 minorities working as a manger within the advertising industry. In the past, a number of advertising agencies had been criticized due to their lack of diversity in the place of work.

The general purpose of I’mpart is to ensure that diversity increases within the advertising industry. There will be a number of different programs that come out of this initiative. Many of the programs will take place at a number of different universities with the hopes of grasping the attention of minorities and getting them interested in the field of advertising.