Why Saatchi’s Kevin Roberts had to go after 'diversity debate is over' comments

He told Business Insider in an interview that was published last week that the debate around women’s equality in the workplace was “over”. Adding that women didn’t really want leadership roles and even went so far as to call out one of the strongest voices in the industry, Cindy Gallop, for making things up “to get applause”.

In a statement today (3 August) he said it was down to “miscommunication” and expressed “my regret and apology to the companies for the furor my remarks and language stimulated, and I extend this to colleagues, staff and clients."

Not, it seems, for the comments themselves.

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It's perhaps little surprise then that Gallop said Roberts' slip out of the back door is simply not good enough.

"Publicis would have made a far greater statement to every woman working within their network, at every client brand they represent, and to the industry as a whole, if they had fired him," she argued.

However, to say that his departure has been met with delight across the industry might be unfair.

Roberts had a distinguished career which has seen him work both client and agency side (20 years of which at Publicis) and be given honorary appointments and doctorates at a number of universities.

As Leigh Thomas – former chief executive of creative agency Dare and soon to be global brand partnerships head at Facebook – put it to The Drum: “I am a little sad to see such a scintillating career end so ignominiously actually. The truth is that the advertising industry is rife with individuals who have been getting away with it for decades. And only now is there sufficient weight of public opinion to deem it wrong. It's overdue.”

It was a view shared by Ali Hanan, founder of Creative Equals, who said that it was shame he resigned instead of trying to be part of the movement for change.

"With unconscious bias training, he would have been able to understood why he held these beliefs in the first place. And, accordingly, he could have changed his behaviour. More importantly, he would put his learnings into practice, creating a diverse and inclusive team around him," said Hanan.

A contagion

It's an interesting point that Hanan makes because this is not the first – nor sadly will it likely be the last – opinion of this ilk to be voiced publicly or privately.

The defect mode of many is to simply ignore it - as the numerous stories of those within agency walls experiencing sexism suggest - or simply hope that the negative headlines that do emerge will quickly disappear.

One only needs to look at the events of months prior to Roberts’ comment, when his own boss Maurice Levy claimed that Gustavo Martinez – who is currently facing a lawsuit for sexist and racist remarks made at WPP shop JWT – was not reflective of a problem in advertising.

"I don't believe what happened at JWT is an example of what's happening in our industry,” Levy claimed.

Levy was later forced to write a memo to employees explaining himself in an attempt to make the criticism and bad feeling in his agency go away.

But the weight of the public furor - as Roberts put it - was too momentous for the Saatchi boss to survive. Chief marketers for some of the most powerful brands in the world, including Airbnb, Pepsico, and JP Morgan Chase were among the thousands who took to social media to slam his views.

“Proud to say that I am NOT a client of @wwsaatchi & calls 2 friends who R 2 read this [sic],” tweeted Pepsico’s Brand Jakeman.

With the threat of losing business a very real prospect, the decision to oust Roberts has been an easy one for Publicis.

"The contagion affects everyone - your staff, your clients, and the reputation of the wider industry. Attempting to sit it out in the hope that the bad headlines will go away isn’t an option – the reputational damage has already been done. And it doesn't matter how big your lawyers are or how senior the staff member is," added Jon Wilkins, chairman at Karmarama.

"When a leader messes up or says things that are inappropriate or downright offensive, a company needs to respond appropriately and rapidly."

Moving on

Instead, the priority at Publicis now has to be about ensuring every agency employee, from the top down, knows that the gender diversity debate is far from over.

The company is not shy about applauding itself for supporting women, regularly reminding people that it hired its first female chief executive in 1938 and still backs an organisation called Viva Woman.

"I spent nearly a decade of my career at Saatchi & Saatchi. I never felt that I couldn’t make it all the way to the top in that network or the industry," said Emma Perkins, now the executive creative director at MullenLowe Open.

"Saatchi was and is full of amazing, talented, ambitious women. Which is why Roberts comments are out of touch and why Publicis Groupe quite rightly had to make the move they did."

However, Perkins adds that the fact remains we are not an industry that has the structure or support that creates an environment for women to thrive. "Now is the time for real actionable change. CEOs need to put their money where their mouth is," she said.

Gallop, and the rest of the industry, is now looking to Maurice Levy and Publicis Groupe to spearhead what she hopes will be "a very dramatic sea change in the way the white male leadership of our industry welcomes women and people of color up to the leadership ranks shoulder to shoulder with them. And to seeing tangible, visible action on their part in the coming weeks."

And in the short term that will see replacements for Roberts mulled and for Levy to potentially bring in someone “less male and pale” – as Leigh Thomas suggests – who can actually drive the diversity agenda across the whole organisation.