Issa Rae Challenges Advertising Industry To Follow Her Mandate For More Diverse Sets: Cannes Lions 2022
deadline.comIssa Rae has revealed she mandates that all of her sets are at least 60% diverse. The Golden Globe-nominated star and creator of Insecure disclosed the directive as she laid down a challenge to marketing and advertising personnel today as part of an impassioned discussion at the Cannes Lions conference about confronting bias in the industry.Rae said: “I still see (bias in the industry).
Now there’s a public discourse about it, people can call it out and you can see the results. I do think that’s healthy. I find there’s a lot of lip service to changing it.“For me it’s about making the changes on my end.
Now I have the mandate of making sure my sets are 60% diverse, and that comes from realising my own power. I can say no to a job if the crew is all white, which happens all the time.
How is this still happening, and how do you want me to be your spokesperson for diversity when the people behind are not diverse?“I say, ‘I’d love to do this, but I just want to make sure the crews are diverse in these particular sectors,’ and to be able to do that is great.”The star was speaking at a Cannes Lions event entitled ‘The Mirror Only Has One Face.’ Other panel members were Bob Lord, IBM Senior Vice President, The Weather Company and Alliances, and Liz Taylor, Global Chief Creative Officer at ad firm Ogilvy.Challenging the marketing and advertising industries to follow her example, Rae said: “Have these conversations so that they can educate themselves and spread the word.
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