The Racial Bias of Madison Avenue

New York, NYWith America's first African-American president now in the Oval Office, it is surprising and somewhat disturbing to note that employment discrimination remains an issue in some industries. Employment law dictates that race and gender should no longer be issues. But sadly they are, and a just-released study reveals employee racial discrimination is alive and well.

Specifically, the Madison Avenue Project has identified an unsettling amount of racial discrimination in the nation's advertising industry. A coalition of industry leaders, and legal and civil rights activists put the project together in an effort to take a realistic snapshot of the industry and how Madison Avenue fares when compared with the overall movement of the discrimination bar in this country.

The findings are alarming, according to experts sensitive to racial discrimination issues. The exhaustive study revealed that racial discrimination is 38 percent more pronounced in the advertising industry when compared with the overall US labor market. What's more, the "discrimination divide" between advertising and comparable US industries is more than twice as bad now as it was 3 decades ago.

Angela Ciccolo of the NAACP, another Project partner, commented that "the time has come to stand up to change this industry."

Bias against African-Americans was found in pay, hiring, promotions, assignments and other areas.

The advertising industry, long known collectively as 'Madison Avenue,' remains a huge force despite the ongoing recession that has seen a 10 percent drop in ad spending and a resulting 15 percent reduction of its workforce. Madison Avenue employs more than 400,000 in a $250 billion industry.

Other sectors have been made to pay after having the hammer of racial discrimination brought down upon their heads. Class-action lawsuits were brought against Texaco and Coco-Cola, which resulted in multi-million dollar settlements and change brought to hiring practices.

Morgan Stanley was hit with a gender bias lawsuit as well.

But it is the racial discrimination card that is proving most troubling, especially given the levels of bias within the confines and inner workings of such a large industry.

Advocates of change in the area of racial bias and discrimination, while alarmed at levels suggested by the Madison Avenue Project, are nonetheless cheered by the election of President Obama as the 44th President and expect that more attention will be paid to this issue, given the historic nature of this most recent election.

It could also be assumed that armed with this new data, Madison Avenue employees citing discrimination will be filing individual, and perhaps class-action, lawsuits in an effort to collect damages. Discrimination can severely restrict or even damage careers where credentials and qualifications alone, unencumbered by the discrimination card, could have spelled success and career growth, rather than stagnation.

One can imagine the anger of someone who saw the corner office go to someone less qualified just because his skin color was different.

And change to the industry may be slow to come, according to Carol H. Williams in comments that appeared in USA Today. The advertising veteran, who owns her own agency and is also a minority, thinks that even with President Obama now in the Oval Office, firms will nonetheless maintain the status quo. "It's a great time to bring (the issue) to the forefront," Williams says. "In a lot of circles, it will be the excuse for not doing a damn thing."

Thus, employee racial discrimination remains a concern, especially in the advertising industry. If you are an employee of 'Madison Avenue' and have felt the sting of employment discrimination, you should know that you have employment law on your side. If you feel that your career has stalled just because of your skin color or your ethnic background, a call to a qualified employment law attorney would be a good thing to do.