University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Open Access Dissertations 9-2012 Rebranding Diversity: Colorblind Racism Inside The .SU . Advertising Industry Christopher Boulton University of Massachusetts Amherst, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Boulton, Christopher, "Rebranding Diversity: Colorblind Racism Inside The .SU . Advertising Industry" (2012). Open Access Dissertations. 621. https://doi.org/10.7275/95qd-5h25 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations/621 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REBRANDING DIVERSITY: COLORBLIND RACISM INSIDE THE U.S. ADVERTISING INDUSTRY A Dissertation Presented by CHRISTOPHER BOULTON Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the deGree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 2012 Department of Communication © Copyright by Christopher Boulton 2012 All RiGhts Reserved REBRANDING DIVERSITY: COLORBLIND RACISM INSIDE THE U.S. ADVERTISING INDUSTRY A Dissertation Presented by CHRISTOPHER BOULTON Approved as to style and content by: ___________________________________________________ Emily West, Chair ___________________________________________________ Sut Jhally, Member ___________________________________________________ Julie Hemment, Member ___________________________________________________ Anna Branch, Member ________________________________________________ Marty Norden, ActinG Department Chair Communication DEDICATION I dedicate this project to my participants. I may have concealed your identities with pseudonyms, but will never forget your good faith, sense of humor, and honesty. Thank you for inviting me into your aGencies, cominG to my focus groups, and trustinG me with your stories. I hope the conversation continues. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, this project would have never seen the light of day if it weren’t for the unflagging support of Emily West, my advisor, who has shepherded my Graduate career from the very beGinninG. As an inspirinG teacher, serious scholar, and Generous mentor, Dr. West has always set a high standard for intellectual rigor and personal integrity. She’s a great coach and I will remain ever grateful for her guidance. My committee has been instrumental in both the Genesis of this project and the formulation of my arGument. I first became interested in advertising through readinG (and watchinG) the work of Sut Jhally and what follows is greatly influenced by Dr. Jhally’s own writings on both race and cultural studies. Julie Hemment incubated an earlier version of my prospectus in a writinG seminar and offered valuable insight on collaborative ethnography that helped me prepare for my fieldwork in New York City. Then, upon my return, Anna Branch helped me make sense of my data by pointinG me towards the sociological literature on race and labor along with analogous work on leGacy colleGe admissions. Fieldwork is a complicated endeavor. Luckily, I had many colleagues who were supportive and came to my aid time and time aGain. For starters, this research was made possible by a fellowship from the Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts Amherst upon the recommendation of Donal CarbauGh. Brett and Jenna Marquard put me up for a month while I wrote my prospectus, Josh Miles housed me durinG my short-term visits to New York City, and Christy Gaiti and Maria Giraldo at Educational Housing Services engineered an in-kind summer housing arranGement at the Clark Residence in Brooklyn. I am Grateful to Mari v Castañeda, Paula Chakravartty, Arlene Dávila, Helga Tawil Souri, and Marita Sturken for helping me secure a private conference room for my agency-based focus groups through the NYU Department of Media, Culture, and Communication where Judi Stevens and Mary Taylor were gracious and attentive hosts. Bill Herman also stepped forward to arrange a back-up location at Hunter College. Many thanks are also due to the staff of the 4A’s: AnGela Johnson Meadows, David Prince, Singleton Beato, Michelle Castillo, Mitch Ramirez, and Shannon Galvin all helped facilitate my access to the MAIP summer internship proGram. Many other advertisinG professionals were Generous with their time, GrantinG me informational interviews on background: Peter Alemian at A&G, Paula Alex at AEF, Ben Butler at Razorfish, Jeff Geisler at McCann Erickson, Dot Giannone at Y&R, Cathryn Gonyo at The AdvertisinG Club (NY), Rob Feakins at Publicis, Nicole Hall at DraftFCB, Susie Kurtz at 360i, Lauren LaValle at McCann Erickson, Dan Lyons at A&G, Shannon Moorman at RGA, Sarah Park at W+K, the RADE Group, Linda Sawyer at Deutsch, Liisa Semp at Juice Pharma, Jonathan Shipman at McCann Erickson, Leah Tanner at Publicis, Alaina Tansino at Arnold, and Carol Watson at TanGerine-Watson. Still other industry insiders and analysts offered me direction along the way: Rachel Abrams at RGA, Ronald Bacsa at FIT, RoGer Baldacci at Arnold, Marc Bendick at Bendick and EGan Economic Consultants, Inc., Alice Bertholin Rice at Oglivy & Mather, Karen Cardozo at UMass Amherst, Anand Chopra-McGowan from The Ad Club (Boston), Anthony CiGnarella at DiGitas, Erin DeRuggiero at Causes, David Gleason at Publicis, Whitney Goodman at Y&R, Sharon Hudson at AEF, Karen Mallia at the University of South Carolina, Natalie Phillips at Deutsch, Birgit Schwarz- vi Hickey at FIT, Linda Scott at AdvertisinG and Society Review, Maria Sheehan at Redtree, Sandra Sims-Williams at Vivaki, Barry Wacksman at RGA, and Marc Weinberger at UMass Amherst. Friends and colleaGues also offered me helpful feedback and encouraGement. Thanks on this score go to Katrin Bahr, Micha Frayne, Eric Hamako, Lisa Henderson, Stephanie Marek, and Ana Nunes. Finally, I’d like to thank my family: Matt, for that late-night conversation; Mom, for droppinG me off and pickinG me up, not just this time, but every time; and Dad, ever the cheerleader—had you worried there for a while, eh? I hope this makes you proud. vii ABSTRACT REBRANDING DIVERSITY: COLORBLIND RACISM INSIDE THE U.S. ADVERTISING INDUSTRY SEPTEMBER 2012 CHRISTOPHER BOULTON, B.A., MACALESTER COLLEGE M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Emily West This dissertation examines race inequality inside the United States advertising industry. Based on qualitative fieldwork conducted at three large aGencies in New York City durinG the summer of 2010 (includinG ethnoGraphic observations, affinity-based focus groups, in-depth interviews, and open-ended surveys), I arGue that the industry’s good faith effort to diversify throuGh internship- based affirmative action proGrams is overwhelmed by the more widespread material practices of closed network hirinG—a system that advantaGes affluent Whites through referral hires, subjective notions of “chemistry” or “fit,” and outriGht nepotism throuGh “must-hires.” Furthermore, the discriminatory nature of White affirmative action is hidden from view, masked by ideoloGies of color-blind meritocracy deployed by manaGement and interns alike. I conclude that this disconnect between practice and ideoloGy helps normalize and reproduce historic inequalities in the workplace by rebranding diversity as an aspect of individuality rather than a social problem best addressed at the group level. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................................................................................. v ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................................viii LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................................................... xiv 1. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 The Problem ..................................................................................................................................1 Why AdvertisinG?..........................................................................................................3 My ArGument ..................................................................................................................6 The Contribution..........................................................................................................................7 Method: Going Beyond (and Behind) the Text.................................................9 Theory: Critical Debates in Communication .................................................. 12 Literature Review..................................................................................................................... 18 AdvertisinG Cultures................................................................................................. 18 Race and Whiteness.................................................................................................. 22 Two-Faced Racism .................................................................................................... 29 My Intervention.........................................................................................................