Agency apologises for racial ‘misunderstanding’ with job candidate

Define ‘taken out of context’. Its discriminatory by definition, nothing else.

Would be interesting to know what this ‘casual’ comment was and the context they are claiming made it acceptable. If it’s even along the lines of ‘3 brown skinned people in a meeting’ though, I can’t see how they can defend it?

Made that comment to make the candidate more at ease? They forgot to mention the “senior” staff member who made that comment was David Brent.

“Casual Remark”
“Misunderstanding”
“Taken out of context”

If that’s what the agency’s idea of an apology is, then it really is an agency with no idea at all.

“The senior staff member who conducted what was a very positive interview, made a casual***[ly racist]*** remark at the end of the interview, which was intended to set the person at ease. Unfortunately it was ***[seen for what it was]*** and has since gained some notoriety on social media,”

fixed that for them

Wow, just wow. Andrew, you have created a culture where somehow you have a staff member that thinks this sort of comment would put someone at ease. That’s the issue. You haven’t even apologised, instead you create excuses. Pathetic, bloody pathetic. And the whole “but 50% of our staff are from diverse backgrounds” is piss weak. It doesn’t mean that your agency can’t be just plain racist. Start leading. And there is only one victim here, and it ain’t your employee.

“… a casual remark at the end of the interview, which was intended to set the person at ease”

Casual racism… nice PR Banjo.

An apology seems totally inadequate in ‘explaining’ such a tactless (to say the least!) remark from someone presumably in a senior position in an ADVERTISING agency! (Not very reassuring for potential clients!)

I had many happy years at Banjo.

Angels, they ain’t.

Devils, neither.

But for all that, I never knew racism there. Ever.

Not at the partner level. They’ve happily hired Indonesian Catholics, Brazilian New Agers, French Jews, and ethnically Indian people who are Muslim, Hindu and (if memory serves) atheist. It was all part of the good stew.

And then, at the level of the two interviewing suits everyone’s discussing, there was never a hint of racisim. Why would there be?

Both these terrific women have Indian heritage. So they’re exceptionally aware of being made to feel isolated due to race. I know they both felt at home at Banjo, as do many other people from ethnic minority groups.

One of the ways they both used to handle the topic of race and ethnicity was – and think this is to their credit – by using humour.

I don’t know the full context of what was said, but I can bet it was about diffusing tension. That’s the style of both these professionals.

People who’ve never worked at, or worked with Banjo may like to give a screed. That’s fine. But don’t pretend you know the quality of the people concerned.

They’re bloody decent, extremely fair people. And it would be a thing of horror, and outright hypocrisy, for the blogocracy to judge these two women of colour for talking about colour.

And if you do care about the experience of “brown-skinnned” people working in an Anglo world, then you’ll do what you can, and say what you should, to support them, rather than sledge them.

This is all part of the general problem created by so called politically aware people, who demand a code of practice, but operate without a real charter or book of rules.

Say that there are too many men employed at agency X,Y or Z, or that the you are tired of the opinions of too many “white men,” and this is perfectly OK. Talk about white man’s bluster, or white man’s ignorance, and this is also fine, refer to just another old white man sounding off, without any fear whatsoever. But mention Brown, Black, Women, or Asians, and you are in deep shit from the onset.

The whole subject needs a dusting down and a reshuffle to get it into some semblance of order and sanity. People need to stop the knee jerk reactions, and start to loosen up about the obvious facts of life, some of us are tall, some short, some fat some thin, and each and every one of us has ethnicity, skin colour, hair and eye colour. I could be accurately described as, a fat old white man; in a room full of people, you could find me very quickly by that description.

I wonder if people actually consider the unspoken bias that a client may have if faced with ‘3 brown skinned people’? It might be true that clients could be apprehensive, sad to say.

There is nothing “unreserved” about that apology.

Agree. Racism is not about whether someone was malicious or not, but about whether it was said or done. Good people do bad stuff. The stuff is the issue, not the intent. On my band wagon this week about poor behaviour (values) after sexism and ageism issues in our industry still continue too. Clients need to know what kind of people they are hiring to deliver on their brand vision! Let’s keep standing up for the right thing I say.

The best message clients can send to Banjo is to put the business up for review and make a stand. Racism, sexism and any other form of discrimination is totally unacceptable. So is a half hearted reply by agency leadership who don’t even apologise profusely.

The only thing that agencies understand is the hard truth and consequences for poor performance and for behaviour the doesn’t reflect well on client partners.

Show leadership clients and show Banjo the door.

In a time of chestbeating, trumpet blowing and binary thought patterns, the only comment in this thread that even touches on being worth a pinch of crap is that from “Mr B once of Banjo”.

Read it, let your sanctimonious anxiety and privilege (the privilege of actually being completely ignorant to the circumstances and people involved) settle just for ten seconds, and entertain the thought just for a moment that the possibility exists to approach these sensitive topics in a functional, helpful way with approaches that might graze the surface of being controversial (before actually looking a little deeper… but that’s the hard stuff, isn’t it).

And if you can’t, but enjoy the humour, self-deprecation and polarising content of Louis CK, George Carlin et-al, then you’re just a damn hypocrite.

Nice call.

Interesting comments by Mr B which hints/suggests that the person who made the comment was of brown skin, that would certainly change the situation in my mind, especially if given what Mr B says is true and accurate. We can be very quick to jump on social-media-evoked-righteousness but, the whole story is often different to the sum of the tweets/posts.

This makes my blood boil. The response from CEO of the company makes it even worse. I wish this company had a facebook page that I could use to post my displeasure at this. But more importantly, I would like to know which of the clients this company has that this ‘senior staffer’ has accused of being racist enough to be troubled by three brown people attending meetings?

Nandos
Best&Less
AMP Capital
NSW WorkCover
Macquarie Center
Santos Energy
Purina
Rheem
Pacific Brands
Crown
Guardian
Ocean Keys Shopping Centre
Macquarie University
ProPlan
AHA NSW
2GB
Appea
Alinta
Purina Fancy Feast
Innocare
Hills.
Bible Society Live Light
Sydney.com Destination NSW
Simplicity Funerals
Pacific Fair Shopping Center
Bauer Media Group
Garden City Booragon
Macquarie Center

Thanks Otis.

“Needless to say, the Banjo staff member is deeply upset by the incident …” Yes, it was needless to say, because it’s not about the senior staff member and how s/he feels. I can’t think of a circumstance within the context of a job interview where the colour of a person’s skin should be mentioned, least of all to put someone “at ease”.

I originally posted a comment on Campaignbrief. My mistake.
I named an agency where I heard a racist remark made.

However, Campaignbrief decided to ‘alter’ my comment and take out the agencies name.
I named the agency and they replaced it with (Quite a few Sydney agencies come to mind).
I’m more offended with Campaignbriefs approach of political censorship to hide and protect a racist agency than the racist comment itself.
Obviously Campaignbrief protects racist agencies they are in bed with.
If Campaignbrief can manipulate real comments on real issues, we live in scary times.
I will be in touch with Mumbrella regarding the full details of the agency, the person involved soon.

From Campaignbrief:
Lets name names said:
Unfortunately racism is still an industry standard in Australia.
(Quite a few Sydney agencies) come to mind.
A despicable racist remark coated as a ‘joke’.

Open discrimination in its different forms openly occurs in many agencies. It can be in the form of racism, ageism or gender discrimination and more.

My personal favorite among several was “you have all the skills we are looking for and you are well suited for the role but we are looking for someone at a different stage of their career than you”. Or it was as blatant as: “you’ve had great career…don’t you think it’s time for you to move aside and give someone younger a go?”.

I also heard an open discussion regarding the merits of whether a man or woman was “better” for the role as a woman might not be able to fit in with a male dominated team. I objected and was simply shouted down.

None of this is rare and all too often it is considered to be a cultural norm that is openly accepted as frank and open discussion. These agencies believe they have every right to take these stances and that nobody has the right to over-ride business decisions regardless of its warped reasoning.

There are also no penalties for doing so. The Human Rights Commission incorporating the Anti Discrimination Commission prefer to mediate with the parties and try to find a form of resolution. They can not force an employer into mediation and employers can simply refuse. They are toothless tigers when it comes to enforce any kind of penalties The only alternative is a take it to court which takes considerable time and money. No consequences apart from a bit of bad PR which is quickly hosed down. And so it continues and will move off this page in days…..until it happens again.

In this current environment, I’d wager that if it were a man who had made that comment in that interview he’d be so fired.

Given Banjo’s flimsy “unreserved” apology which was explained by “casual remark”, “misunderstanding”, “out of context” caveats, i’m pretty sure Banjo would have mentioned the person making the remark about brown people, was in fact a brown person.

Either way, it doesnt matter –

It’s still racist to tell someone they aren’t suitable for a job becuase of the colour of their skin.

Doesn’t matter who says it or the intent.. its a racist staement

Sorrynotsorry

Explain yourself Otis.

Would they have said the same thing if it was a guy with brown skin ? Would they have said to a white person – I’m sorry I think 3 white guys in a room…. Casual racism has no place anywhere anytime. It’s only been a couple hundred years, maybe next century we’ll get it right.

Just because you’re a good person or have a multicultural workforce, doesn’t excuse you from making a racist slur, and worse still, in a job interview. When is it ok – never. Get a grip.

“…half of the staff are from ethnic backgrounds including India, Asia, UK and South America.”

Since when did UK classify as an ethnic background?

Nicely corrected. I think that catches the essence of the situation.

I have to admit to being a tad confused too Ethnic. Since when did India, Asia and South America classify as an ethnic background?

Mr B – using humour to deal with race or racism is never funny. It’s racism. They might be nice but what they did was racist. Plain and simple. The person/people responsible should be sacked IMO.

Indeed Brian, indeed.

Interesting comment from Mr B, who has hinted at some context which should remind us that there is always two sides. But having also once worked at Banjo as well, those who have been enclosed in those four walls will know that that agency is simply a bad hangover from the Singos days and there are some who simply haven’t left the past behind — hot air, boys club antics and, yep – you guessed it, inappropriate remarks!

Amazingly naive release from Banjo.

The agency response, not the racist comment, has made the incident immortal.

The interviewee and interviewer(s) are all from Indian backgrounds and……….are Facebook friends, maybe, just maybe this isn’t what you think it is!!

#banjosowhite

It’s irrelevant that the senior staff member didn’t mean to offend. They did. Some of my best friends are racists.

“… a casual remark at the end of the interview, which was intended to set the person at ease”

Not sure when this is ever alright…

Nice work, Banjo!

Agreed. The statement does nothing to reassure me that discrimination isn’t rife at Banjo.

Agency “apologises” for “misunderstanding”
It was not an apology. It was a sorry half-arsed justification for a racist remark. It was not an misunderstanding. She heard them loud and clear. What blows my mind is that they have the gall to blame their client for not wanting 3 brown people in the room. Which client? Do tell.

Well, its certainly racist to actually even bring up the colour of her skin. Because would they have if she wasn’t? Totally tone deaf release and apology that tries to excuse what was said.

So true… i don’t understand how a professional interview could allow for a casually racist comment. i feel that hiding behind the ‘context’ with no explanation shows the public response is all PR fluff. Where’s the real apology? Its apalling

Seems their crime was being too honest. People really think this doesn’t happen every day?
Stop dreaming, racism is everywhere, and sometimes it’s obvious.

Common guys, the interviewer, is governed by his up bringing
Being the 60 ‘s parents white aussie policy, Gouge Whitlam, Bill Kelty
And it passes down, from baby boomers.
The day these elders move in, it’s not going to solve the racial sadistic , ongoing slur on coloured people.
Politicians, media , put on these act, we are one, common mate
Wake up and smell the rises.

Still doesn’t excuse the comment. Others’ racism doesn’t excuse their own.

Spot on.

“unfortunate misunderstanding” and “unreserved apology” are two different things, Banjo. learn how to apologies properly

Having 3 brown people in a client meeting would certainly be awkward, especially in Sydney. In the real world we live in there is discrimination, no matter how educated a brown man/woman is we are always judged by our appearance and not by our education, character and expereince. Discrimanation could be crippling and should be exposed to the highest extent of the law.

@DavidBrent I hope more brown ppl could attend your client meetings. Maybe you should ask Google how its been done.

Exceptional whataboutery skills there M

For years I was told by headhunters and agencies that the clients don’t want to see any old people like me in meetings. It was infuriating and ageist as hell. But it was true. And I was “aged out”.
Is it possible these particular clients don’t want to see three people of brown skin appearance in a meeting? I can tell you, it’s totally possible.
I worked with many of the good people at Banjo when they were at Singos. You are never gonna get a more straight shooting and fair-minded group of people – all the way up to Verasdi at the top. All people say stupid things sometimes. The smart thing for this woman to do would have been to say at the time: “Are you serious?” and demand an explanation. The dumbest thing to do is go whinging to the court of social media.

Exceptional ad hominemism Rachel.

Brown people, now you know! The list is out!

@Pete Rush

Great victim blaming there mate.

And a small problem with geographic knowledge … Asia includes India.

Actually, I support what Pete Rush said. Maybe it is time to educate our clients. Make them understand you are bringing experience to the meeting table. Set the meeting scene, rather than swipe at agencies and employees. Yes?

Hopefully this PR nightmare will soon be rectified. Jokes at other’s expense are not for the corporate environment.