Since Nathan Young and Bennett D. Bennett founded 600 & Rising in June, their nonprofit has made considerable headway in encouraging agencies to take concrete action toward addressing systemic racism in the industry. The organization’s #CommitToChange campaign has prompted a number of agencies and holding companies to share their diversity data—not just for overall staff, but also for leadership positions. Such information is crucial to holding the industry accountable on its promises to increase equity for people of color.
But yesterday, the organization stumbled when Young, its president, tweeted a criticism about the ADCOLOR awards, the advertising fete that has long celebrated the achievements of diverse industry professionals as well as work that has promoted diversity and inclusion.
“@ADCOLOR is an awards ceremony completely divorced from reality that sells the story that progress is being made on diversity in advertising and buys cover for holding companies,” he wrote.