Advertising chief quits over comments on women in workplace

THE executive chairman at advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi has resigned after comments he made about women in the workplace prompted an outcry within the company.

Lancaster-born Kevin Roberts will leave his post in September after admitting comments he made in an interview with Business Insider magazine “inadvertently embarrassed” the company.

In the interview, Roberts was asked if the gender diversity debate still rages in the advertising industry.

“Not in my view,” he said. “This is a diverse world, we are in a world where we need, like we’ve never needed before, integration, collaboration, connectivity, and creativity.”

When he was asked about advertising consultant Cindy Gallop who tweeted “Sexual harassment is endemic in the media, advertising and every industry”, Roberts replied “I think she’s got problems that are of her own making. I think she’s making up a lot of the stuff to create a profile, and to take applause, and to get on a soap(box).”

The former Lancaster Grammar School pupil said of Saatchi and Saatchi: “We have a bunch of talented, creative females, but they reach a certain point in their careers…10 years of experience, when we are ready to make them a creative director of a big piece of business, and I think we fail in two out of three of those choices because the executive involved said: ‘I don’t want to manage a piece of business and people, I want to keep doing the work’.

“If you think about those Darwinian urges of wealth, power, and fame — they are not terribly effective in today’s world for a millennial because they want connectivity and collaboration.

“They feel like they can get that without managing and leading, so maybe we have got the definition wrong.”

He said that many women and men simply want to be happy and do great work.

“So we are trying to impose our antiquated s*** on them, and they are going: ‘Actually guys, you’re missing the point, you don’t understand: I’m way happier than you.’” he said.

“Their ambition is not a vertical ambition, it’s this intrinsic, circular ambition to be happy.

“So they say: ‘We are not judging ourselves by those standards that you idiotic dinosaur-like men judge yourself by’.

“I don’t think (the lack of women in leadership roles) is a problem. I’m just not worried about it because they are very happy, they’re very successful, and doing great work. I can’t talk about sexual discrimination because we’ve never had that problem, thank goodness.”

After the comments, Publicis Groupe put out the following statement: “Following the comments made by Saatchi & Saatchi executive chairman and Publicis Groupe head coach Kevin Roberts in a recent interview with Business Insider, Publicis Groupe chairman and chief executive Maurice Lévy addressed a statement internally to all Publicis Groupe employees to reiterate the Groupe’s no-tolerance policy towards behavior or commentary counter to the spirit of Publicis Groupe and its celebration of difference as captured in the motto Viva la Difference!

“It is for the gravity of these statements that Kevin Roberts has been asked to take a leave of absence from Publicis Groupe effective immediately.

“As a member of The Directoire, it will ultimately be the Publicis Groupe Supervisory Board’s duty to further evaluate his standing.

“Diversity & inclusion are business imperatives on which Publicis Groupe will not negotiate.

“While fostering a work environment that is inclusive of all talent is a collective responsibility, it is leadership’s job to nurture the career aspirations and goals of all our talent.

“Promoting gender equality starts at the top and the Groupe will not tolerate anyone speaking for our organization who does not value the importance of inclusion.

 “Publicis Groupe works very hard to champion diversity and will continue to insist that each agency’s leadership be champions of both diversity and inclusion.”

Kate Stanners, global chief creative officer at Saatchi, said on Radio 4 she rejected the suggestion that women lacked ambition – saying Mr Roberts’ comments had upset a “huge” number of employees. 


She said women “don’t bail out, and do want the top jobs”. When pressed on his comments, she added: “Kevin is his own character and speaks in his own words.”