American Fiction [in Advertising]

I finally saw American Fiction. An incredible film, the best of the year, and my personal pick for the Oscar win. (In my opinion a far far better film than Barbie and Oppenheimer but Barbenheimer fans don't hurt me please!) As i watched the film i couldn't help but feel that there was something of Thelonious "Monk" Ellison in me. I'm Asian American and not Black American but i saw some parallels in the character. Him, a lone writer seeking literary excellence, and me, a lone creative director seeking creative excellence. How we both have led our careers down this twisted muddy path by pushing ahead always chasing that pure amazing idea but somehow always getting ignored and seeing the low brow ideas getting gushed over by clients and awards while our soul (and that of our creative teams) slowly shrivel into a rotten dark pit. Like Monk, perhaps my pursuit of creative excellence has also put people at a distance and maybe my relationships have suffered for it too...but in the end if we can only just "let people love us", things might turn out OK. But hey, in the end sacrifices have to be made and our crusade is pure and just and it's all going to be worth it someday...right?

While American Fiction uses biting witty satire to send a message about "mainstream woke'ism" and how mass market racial discussions seem to always be framed by white people, i couldn't help but draw comparisons to how low brow ideas, the quick TikTokable ideas, the advent of the "Social Creative Director", and the "AI Creative Director" have perpetuated the en shewing of real human insights for that of surface level trend reports and limited AB testing in the advertising industry. That a great creative idea is one that gets the most press instead of has the most impact. Ideas which farm categories like "For Good" win the flashy Cannes and Clio awards but are dubious at best and outright scam at worst. That the yes man agency creative who throws ego stoking recycled trend after trend ideas to the client seem to be now the CCO of an ad agency making $1M salaries while creatives who tirelessly fight for real creative ideas seem to be registering for unemployment or "freelancing".

All that and we haven't even mentioned the underlining racial diversity problem we have currently in US ad agencies where reports like this one that says "In 2021, 73% of Agency Leaders Were White. In 2022, It Was 90%". No surprise then that agencies have actually gone back on DEI promises because most of them were PR campaigns by white dominated and white led agencies who wanted to jump on the DEI bandwagon and make themselves look good but then after the dust settled and the real work and investment were needed, they all backed out. When DEI as a "revenue driver" didn't quite pan out for them, it was run for the hills because after all the stock prices and valuation are driven by the colorless, cultureless, faceless, masses who must be fed at all costs. For the rare handful of US agency leaders at the CEO and CCO level who are POCs (Congrats Danny Robinson ) it remains to be seen if they are their own Stagg R. Leigh(s) or if they stand up and try to make a real difference but at risk of being kicked out of the country club and onto the streets at some point. In order to achieve mainstream awareness and see any progress at all do we need to enlist woke white ad executives while our soul slowly shrivels up and dies like the light that went out of the eyes of Monk when he finds out that his book, FUCK, is going to be a #1 best seller? The agony of the ethical, moral, or at the very least, the intellectual dilemma of personal career success at the crumbling of personal high ground is one that i don't think anyone relishes to tackle, but if it's between being unemployed and collecting a fat paycheck do we really have the right to judge?

It's also interesting that while cultural agencies like Burrell Communications and Alma , (who do not label themselves as a "black agency" or "Hispanic agency" and instead call themselves transcultural despite basically doing targeted work and business in those demographics) are doing good work, they're never quite recognized by the industry to be at the level of the Wieden+Kennedys, Droga5s, the DDBs, Ogilvys and McCanns of the world. I'm sure they also have their stories of having to pander to these large network agencies and clients where white CEOs and CMOs who no doubtably have their vision of what cultural creative they have in mind for their brand. But the question i have is: when are these Black American or Hispanic American or Asian American cultural ideas and work going to simply be seen as great American ideas?

I guess all this is to say: hey, let's not get TOO too worked up about it, after all, no sense in having an aneurysm selling a toilet paper commercial on the 3rd floor.