Wieden+Kennedy responds to backlash on all-male creative hires for Macca’s account
W+K's new local creatives
Creative agency Wieden+Kennedy has responded to an online backlash after the agency’s first announcement of its local creative hires featured an all-male lineup.
The agency is setting up a local shop after winning a chunk of the McDonald’s creative account last month, and on Monday, it announced Roy Leibowitz and Chris Wilson as its new group creative directors, and Jack Elliot and Lochie Newham as senior creatives.
The creatives were described by the agency as having immediately understood its “fan to fan approach” to advertising, and the importance of having McDonald’s “show up in culture, versus just making ads”.
W+K’s new local creatives. (L-R): Chris Wilson, Roy Leibowitz, Jack Elliot, Lochie Newham
But what some critics were quick to point out, is that Wieden+Kennedy seemingly failed to ‘read the room’ of the Australian creative landscape, notably after last year’s Campaign Brief controversy.
Several took to LinkedIn to share their frustrations with the agency, including creative Jet Swain, who described the move as “tone-deaf” in the context of the Australian industry.
However, on Tuesday morning, Wieden+Kennedy told Mumbrella that it stands by its hiring decisions, arguing the announcement was not the whole picture.
In a statement to Mumbrella, a Wieden+Kennedy spokesperson said: “We prioritize building and retaining a diverse workforce as part of our larger talent strategy, and appreciate any dialogue that moves the industry forward.
“To give you a sense of the larger picture in this case, we’re still at the beginning of the process and have just begun working in this market as of January 2025. The hires we’ve made so far are only a few of a larger team we’re building out to work on Macca’s in Sydney.
“In terms of our continued hiring practices, again we will always prioritize creating a diverse workplace as we grow. This has been a commitment since our founding, and it’s reflected very clearly within our global and office-level leadership, as well as across our employee network.”
McDonald’s declined to comment.
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Call me back when it’s an issue. Minus all the cheer leading when 4 women are hired. DEI is having its day of reckoning .
If there were ten males hired, of course we should be having a conversations about this.
Eight, definitely.
Six even, sure.
But we’re talking about four people. That’s two creative teams. Two.
We have no idea how many people interviewed. If I were hiring two creative teams to found my office, my key hiring criteria would be to make sure they are very good at their jobs.
I don’t know these humans who were hired, but I think this type of anger is mis-pointed in this specific instance and diminishes their talents and achievements rather than simply casting them as four cookie-cutter “dude bros”.
anything all-female gets praised by mumbrella but anything all-male is tone deaf or insensitive. give me a break, 4 guys is just enough for a game of tennis. hire based on merit, hire based on skill, if you are hiring based on gender or colour you are part of the problem so stop patting yourself on the back. they are peddling burgers and fries does it matter?
Read Donald Trumps lips……DEI is dead in the water!
Merit is the winner! Always!
Woke is over too!
Love Chris and Roy – great hire. Yes 4 is a small number but given the W&K brand it’s very hard to believe they didn’t have some hugely talented more diverse talent keen for the other roles.
I heard they travelled australia getting insights. It’s mind blowing they would enter the market like this – so silly.
Merit should always ‘trump’ diversity when it comes to recruiting staff.
Years ago, a friend who had left the industry to work in film said – “Advertising is an industry full of organised women running around, making men’s ideas happen.”
Let’s remember the broadness of DEI. What is DEI? DEI is; equal parental leave for mothers AND fathers, DEI is accessibility to the work place for ALL bodies, DEI is flexible work arrangements, DEI is recognising days of significance for ALL cultures. The ‘merit’ aspect of DEI is just the tip of the iceberg. We ALL benefit from DEI in our workplace, and being woke to that elevates us all.
This is why Trump is finding such momentum with his terrible DEI rhetoric and decisions is because people do overreact to decisions like this where FOUR are hired. And I find it hypocritical the comments are skewed only to gender, not ethnic diversity either.
I think you mean ‘the world’