Sanctioned Segregation: “The ad industry is essentially a segregated industry in terms of how people work and think,” says Richard Wayner, CEO of the True Agency, who was speaking from the audience after a panel discussion at the Los Angeles Association of Ad Agencies. “It is sanctioned segregation and supported by clients.”

The comments came after a discussion marked by the laments of mainstream advertising agency leaders unable to find people of color (in a city where whites are increasingly a minority). I hear similar excuses from PR agency principals too, and I suspect the same charges could be leveled at our industry.