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Cindy Gallop Advertising Saatchi & Saatchi

Cindy Gallop galvanizes furious Twitter response following Saatchi & Saatchi chairman Kevin Roberts' comments

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By Minda Smiley | Reporter

July 29, 2016 | 4 min read

Cindy Gallop, advertising consultant and former chair of BBH New York, has caused quite a storm on Twitter following a Business Insider piece that quotes Saatchi & Saatchi chairman Kevin Roberts as saying that she “has problems of her own making” regarding her ongoing quest to advocate for and promote diversity within the advertising industry.

Kevin Roberts

Kevin Roberts Saatchi & Saatchi

In the article, Roberts tells Business Insider that he believes the gender debate is over, despite the fact that in 2014 only 11 percent of creative directors were female, according to a survey from the 3% Conference. He also said that he thinks Gallop makes a lot of stuff up “to create a profile, and to take applause” and said that he thinks many women are not interested in leadership roles.

When asked what she thought of Roberts’ comments, Gallop responded by stating that “The best response to that is to throw it open to the industry, and ask the women and men of the ad industry, all around the world, to tweet at @krconnect to let him know whether they think I'm 'making it all up’.”

While Business Insider pointed out that 65 percent of Saatchi & Saatchi’s employees are female, and that its parent company Publicis Groupe has a 50/50 gender split, many people took to Twitter call out Roberts for his comments:

At the time of writing neither the agency or Roberts had followed up to comment on the report.

Cindy Gallop Advertising Saatchi & Saatchi

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