Bowing to the Inevitable, Advertisers Embrace Advocate Role<br />That was “to my surprise,” he said, “with believe me, no effort on our part whatsoever.”<br />Mr. Hudson said he was proud that most of his senior team is made up of either women or ethnic minorities but he has wondered, “Do I do<br />that quietly or do I become more public about it?” He added, “The for-profit private sector is going to be playing a stronger role in the next number of years at trying to reset the bar, for fear that the bar shifts in such a way that it’s not healthy for society.”<br />A separate panel focused on the representation of women in commercials and highlighted recent research from the advertising company J. Walter Thompson New York and the Geena Davis Institute<br />that showed men get far more screen time in ads compared with women, who are less likely to be depicted as funny or even employed.<br />To be sure, advertising is not traditionally seen as a moral arbiter — just last month, California attorney general’s office said it had reached a settlement with Gatorade over allegations<br />that the brand made a mobile app for teens and young adults that cast water in a negative light — but American companies are in a new postelection era, when advocating for diversity can be seen as a political statement.<br />While appearing on a panel of chief executives discussing diversity and inclusion, J. Clifford Hudson, the chief executive of Sonic Drive-In, which franchises its restaurants and is based in Oklahoma City, said he has been stymied on how public to be about efforts made within his company after a report last year showed<br />that more Sonic customers associated with President Trump than any other presidential candidate.<br />“We know advertising creates stereotypes which shape culture<br />and it’s our responsibility to change culture so more women will have education and economic empowerment and less abuse.”<br />That prompted Jeffrey Rothman, vice president of marketing strategy and innovation at Dannon, to bring up the yogurt brand’s sponsorship of the N.<br />“You just have what I would actually liken to a gold rush in the content space,” Rob Master, vice president of global media, categories<br />and partnerships at Unilever, which owns brands like Dove soap and Lipton tea, said during a presentation.
