Posted on 10/21/2005 7:11:17 AM PDT by summer
A well-known ... worldwide creative director at WPP Group resigned his position ...over remarks he made at an industry event about female creative executives. The comments, by Neil French, 61, drew attention to the absence of women at the highest levels of the creative side of advertising....
Mr. French told an audience... women "don't make it to the top because they don't deserve to"...
His comments infuriated... Nancy Vonk... of Ogilvy Toronto, [wrote] a column for a Web site denouncing his comments.
...Ms. Vonk said[:}..."It's undeniable that women aren't getting far enough in the creative part of agencies,..."
.. When Mr. French was asked ...why there weren't more high-ranking women in creative agency positions, he said it was because they were not good enough.
... In 1998, [French] was named to the position of worldwide creative director at WPP... the world's second-largest ad agency ...
...Mr. French defended his remarks:... "[Women] don't work hard enough..."b>
Mr. French said he believed that the event was private...
...Though statistics are hard to come by, industry executives said the scarcity of women in top creative positions is generally recognized. Creative directors are responsible for devising advertising campaigns.
The One Club... will induct a woman into its Hall of Fame next week for the first time since 1974....
...such imbalances in agencies were typically starkest in the creative department.
"Senior female creatives are virtually nonexistent," she said. "It's an incontrovertible fact,..." ...Mr. French's comments [are] "Neanderthal-like," [and]...an industrywide attitude."...
"There's still rampant sexism in our business," ....
Mr. French said he did not regret his remarks...Mr. French [was] widely pilloried on the Internet. "Death by blog is not really the way to go."
I had not heard about the lives lost, since standards had been lowered to include women (and smaller men). I apologize for my ignorance. By the way, would you be kind enough to post that article about people burning to death while waiting for a female firefighter to rescue them? Or, are these articles not being published to protect the ineptness of female firefighters? I'm kind of embarassed now, about the years I spent on the volunteer fire department.
i just wanted to add, since there is a ruckus about not hiring women, sounds to me like they hired a "barrage" of them.....
"French's disparaging comments prompted a barrage of e-mail complaints from female executives in WPP companies to Sorrell, sources said".
sounds like quite a few to me!
the article miss summer posted is not the original and leaves out a great deal of important information (as pointed out in #140 and #142 ) but naturally since it does not fit her agenda, was totally ignored.
It appears that wpp did infact hire quite a few women exutives (a "barrage", according to ad week)
mr french was infact hired to "entertain" in his shock jock style (which he was noted for) and that is what folks paid 125.00 to hear.
It also appears that mr french was infact broadsided by someone he considered an old friend (ms vont) and that ms vont and women in general are not the victims here.
this is something personal with ms summer and her little gang of high fivin' gal pals on this forum. your logic is likely to go right over their heads!
You are absolutly correct regarding wieght. and its not just about rescuing folks in buildings. its also about the safety of the firefighters.
my husband works on the emergency squad at work, they respond to fires, rescues etc. its not enough to beable to carry 125 pds (which isnt much).
when youre in a fire, you want to be secure in knowing should a building collapse atop of you that your fellow firefighter at minimum can drag you from the building giving your current wieght AND the large wieght of the gear you have on (which would be ALOT more than 125 pds)even with a small man.
but hey thats all logic and according to ms beth, safety is irrelivant so long as there is "equal rights".
Thank you for the input but I am only concerned with getting facts out and not whether an agenda driven wacko bothers or even cares to look at them.
I pegged this person from the get go as one who goes through life wearing blinders and blaming everyone else for her own shortcomings.
point taken:)
i was being narrow minded-lots of lurkers and readers to consider as well.
my post was on topic. it appeared to me that maybe you needed to understand the "basics".
If you had bothered to read the original article (and actual WORDS spoken) instead of some womans blog you might see that your reaction is completly off base.
but hey, go ahead and filter mr french's motives and words thru the feminist spirit, if thats what floats your boat.
Let's just say your right. There all better?
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