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Richards Group (Dallas) losing clients due to founder comments


Tailgate

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-14/home-depot-motel-6-drop-ad-agency-over-founder-s-racist-remarks

 

A number of consumer companies are cutting ties with advertising agency Richards Group after a report that its founder made a racist remark about a proposed Motel 6 ad campaign.

According to Ad Age, Stan Richards, 87, said the suggested ad for the motel was “too Black” and wouldn’t resonate with the chain’s “significant White supremacist constituents.” It took place during an internal meeting at the agency last week, the motel chain said.

Glenn Dady, principal and creative director of Richards Group, said in an emailed statement the agency’s “brand has been tarnished.” Dady was named as Stan Richards’s successor late last year.

“We understand and regret the pain and concerns of all those who were deeply troubled by the words our founder spoke. He can’t take them back,” he said. “We can only ask for forgiveness and promise to learn and be better.”

Ad Age reported that Richards apologized for the remark on an agency-wide Zoom call.

Cutting Ties

Motel 6 said it was “outraged” by the statements and has cut ties with the agency, effective immediately. “We are a company who embraces diversity of all forms and have a zero tolerance policy for hateful comments of any kind, whether that be within our organization, at third-party vendors or at our properties,” a spokesman for Motel 6 said in an emailed statement.

Home Depot Inc., another client, also announced it would drop the agency following the remark.

“We do not tolerate discrimination in any form, so we were shocked and saddened when we learned of this incident. We have immediately begun the process of finding a new advertising agency,” Home Depot spokeswoman Sara Gorman said.

Orkin Inc., the pest-control company, said it was “actively reviewing” its partnership with Richards Group. “We are disappointed with the news,” a spokesperson said.

The quick severing of ties reflects a new reality among U.S. companies: They’re less willing to ignore the casual racism that was long commonplace in corporate America. Sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police in May and fueled by months of protests against police brutality, companies that once chose to quietly sit out tough conversations about race are now taking a stance.

Even before Floyd’s death, companies were starting to face a reckoning on race in America. In 2018, the chairman of Papa John’s International Inc., John Schnatter, used a racist slur on a conference call with a media agency, prompting his exit from the chain he founded. He later claimed the comment was taken out of context.

‘Powerful People’

Richards’s comments may reflect both a generational disconnect from what’s acceptable in society, as well as an assumption that his power and wealth would insulate him from repercussions, said John Paul Rollert, who teaches business ethics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Richards is both older -- in his 80s -- but also the founder of the company, and that gives him a different frame of reference from other employees.

“It’s another example of someone who has so much money that he thinks he can afford not to watch his mouth, and we’re obviously living in a world where the price of such behavior has gone up,” Rollert said. “When everything we say and do is being documented not only by email but also by Zoom, a company has to have pretty much a no-tolerance policy for such offensive language.”

It’s more often the case that powerful people make such remarks, Rollert added, because they think they can get away with it and “it’s actually a way of affirming they are the most powerful person in the room -- that they can make a joke that would get anyone else fired. Increasingly, they can’t.”

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Hmmm.  At 87, ol Stan has probably lost a lot of his filter.

The more interesting part of it is apparently they have research that Motel 6 has a large white supremacist customer base?  Why Motel 6?

Also, once you accept that you are dealing with a client that has a largely racist customer base is it wrong to say that an ad is "too black"?  Would it be preferable to say "too ethnic"?  "Too non-white."  Maybe "needs to be more white, more Klannish?"

Or do you just tell the client to fuck it, they didn't want those customers anyway?

Edited by TwiceHorn
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-14/home-depot-motel-6-drop-ad-agency-over-founder-s-racist-remarks

 

A number of consumer companies are cutting ties with advertising agency Richards Group after a report that its founder made a racist remark about a proposed Motel 6 ad campaign.

According to Ad Age, Stan Richards, 87, said the suggested ad for the motel was “too Black” and wouldn’t resonate with the chain’s “significant White supremacist constituents.” It took place during an internal meeting at the agency last week, the motel chain said.

Glenn Dady, principal and creative director of Richards Group, said in an emailed statement the agency’s “brand has been tarnished.” Dady was named as Stan Richards’s successor late last year.

“We understand and regret the pain and concerns of all those who were deeply troubled by the words our founder spoke. He can’t take them back,” he said. “We can only ask for forgiveness and promise to learn and be better.”

Ad Age reported that Richards apologized for the remark on an agency-wide Zoom call.

Cutting Ties

Motel 6 said it was “outraged” by the statements and has cut ties with the agency, effective immediately. “We are a company who embraces diversity of all forms and have a zero tolerance policy for hateful comments of any kind, whether that be within our organization, at third-party vendors or at our properties,” a spokesman for Motel 6 said in an emailed statement.

Home Depot Inc., another client, also announced it would drop the agency following the remark.

“We do not tolerate discrimination in any form, so we were shocked and saddened when we learned of this incident. We have immediately begun the process of finding a new advertising agency,” Home Depot spokeswoman Sara Gorman said.

Orkin Inc., the pest-control company, said it was “actively reviewing” its partnership with Richards Group. “We are disappointed with the news,” a spokesperson said.

The quick severing of ties reflects a new reality among U.S. companies: They’re less willing to ignore the casual racism that was long commonplace in corporate America. Sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police in May and fueled by months of protests against police brutality, companies that once chose to quietly sit out tough conversations about race are now taking a stance.

Even before Floyd’s death, companies were starting to face a reckoning on race in America. In 2018, the chairman of Papa John’s International Inc., John Schnatter, used a racist slur on a conference call with a media agency, prompting his exit from the chain he founded. He later claimed the comment was taken out of context.

‘Powerful People’

Richards’s comments may reflect both a generational disconnect from what’s acceptable in society, as well as an assumption that his power and wealth would insulate him from repercussions, said John Paul Rollert, who teaches business ethics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Richards is both older -- in his 80s -- but also the founder of the company, and that gives him a different frame of reference from other employees.

“It’s another example of someone who has so much money that he thinks he can afford not to watch his mouth, and we’re obviously living in a world where the price of such behavior has gone up,” Rollert said. “When everything we say and do is being documented not only by email but also by Zoom, a company has to have pretty much a no-tolerance policy for such offensive language.”

It’s more often the case that powerful people make such remarks, Rollert added, because they think they can get away with it and “it’s actually a way of affirming they are the most powerful person in the room -- that they can make a joke that would get anyone else fired. Increasingly, they can’t.”

Deleted. Not politics forum.

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Just now, ztejas said:

I would think him calling a longterm client's constituent base "white supremacists" would be the worse comment than the "too black" quip but I can see how people would take issue either way.

I imagine the comment pissed off the white supremacists as well. All those years of AM talk radio commercials for motel 6 down the drain. 

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52 minutes ago, Tailgate said:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-14/home-depot-motel-6-drop-ad-agency-over-founder-s-racist-remarks

 

A number of consumer companies are cutting ties with advertising agency Richards Group after a report that its founder made a racist remark about a proposed Motel 6 ad campaign.

According to Ad Age, Stan Richards, 87, said the suggested ad for the motel was “too Black” and wouldn’t resonate with the chain’s “significant White supremacist constituents.” It took place during an internal meeting at the agency last week, the motel chain said.

He does get bonus points for capitalizing the B but they're quickly negated by capitalizing the W. 

 

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1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

Hmmm.  At 87, ol Stan has probably lost a lot of his filter.

The more interesting part of it is apparently they have research that Motel 6 has a large white supremacist customer base?  Why Motel 6?

Also, once you accept that you are dealing with a client that has a largely racist customer base is it wrong to say that an ad is "too black"?  Would it be preferable to say "too ethnic"?  "Too non-white."  Maybe "needs to be more white, more Klannish?"

Or do you just tell the client to fuck it, they didn't want those customers anyway?

Refer to customers that don't bring their lunch pail to work or get the most out of their abilities.....go the anti ESPN route. 

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1 hour ago, DonkeyCigars said:

"Old man Stan" as he is known in Dallas, is a known walking time-bomb and this just blew up. It was a matter of when, not if.

That said, didn't he donate a ton to the UT Communications school and has an advertising wing or something named after him (to bring this back to UT-news)?

Yes, the advertising program at The University of Texas was renamed the Stan Richards School of Advertising.

Its the #1 ad school in the country.

https://advertising.utexas.edu/news/study-ranks-texas-advertising-1-advertising-program-us

Edited by Tailgate
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1 hour ago, Deej said:

When you see a bunch of Klansmen wearing your sheets. 

Those sheets are at best 60 ... not sure if there still is a Klan or if it wears sheets, but I'm guessing it at least is Quality Inn.

Add me to the list of calling your client's customer base "white supremacists" much worse ...

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This is one of those instances where the remark seems to be "insensitive-racist" rather than "all ________ must hang racist." 

Advertising seems like one of those fields where behind the scenes things get brutally frank and pretense and courtesy fly out the window.  E.g. "this product is ______________ (fill in disparaging term), but it sells to ______________ (fill in disparaging name for customer base), so the ads have to appeal to ____________________" and so on an so forth.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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17 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

This is one of those instances where the remark seems to be "insensitive-racist" rather than "all ________ must hang racist." 

Advertising seems like one of those fields where behind the scenes things get brutally frank and pretense and courtesy fly out the window.  E.g. "this product is ______________ (fill in disparaging term), but it sells to ______________ (fill in disparaging name for customer base), so the ads have to appeal to ____________________" and so on an so forth.

 

roger-blackface-600x339.jpg

Edited by Deej
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Don’t have much to add to this story other than I got to hear Stan speak about 6-8 years ago at an awards deal I was at for my wife. Not sure why he was asked to be a speaker and he basically said as such, then proceeded to say he was just going to give his normal marketing pitch. Most of it was about Home Depot and Motel 6, but the whole thing was super awkward. I know. CSB. 

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