Publicis Groupe has placed Saatchi & Saatchi chairman Kevin Roberts on a ‘leave of absence’ after he told a publication that the gender diversity debate is over.
Roberts said many women are content never to reach leadership roles because they lack the “vertical ambition” of men in an interview Business Insider.
The comments were made after the publication pointed out that all six holding company chief executives are male and that while 46.4 per cent of the ad industry is female, only 11.5 percent of creative directors are.
In the interview, published on Friday, Roberts said the “debate is all over” about gender diversity in the advertising industry and that rather than holding ambitions to progress into the upper ranks of management, many women – and men – simply want to be happy and “do great work”.
He added: “…they are going: ‘Actually guys, you’re missing the point, you don’t understand: I’m way happier than you.’ Their ambition is not a vertical ambition, it’s this intrinsic, circular ambition to be happy.
“So they say: ‘We are not judging ourselves by those standards that you idiotic dinosaur-like men judge yourself by’. I don’t think [the lack of women in leadership roles] is a problem.
“I’m just not worried about it because they are very happy, they’re very successful, and doing great work. I can’t talk about sexual discrimination because we’ve never had that problem, thank goodness.”
Roberts’ standing within the company has now been put ‘subject to evaluation’ and Publicis Groupe’s Chairman and CEO, Maurice Lévy has distanced himself from the comments.
A statement issued later said: “Following the comments made by Saatchi & Saatchi Executive Chairman and Publicis Groupe Head Coach, Kevin Roberts, in a recent interview with Business Insider, Publicis Groupe Chairman & CEO, Maurice Lévy addressed a statement internally to all Publicis Groupe employees to reiterate the Groupe’s no-tolerance policy towards behavior or commentary counter to the spirit of Publicis Groupe and its celebration of difference as captured in the motto ‘Viva la Difference!’
“It is for the gravity of these statements that Kevin Roberts has been asked to take a leave of absence from Publicis Groupe effective immediately. As a member of The Directoire, it will ultimately be the Publicis Groupe Supervisory Board’s duty to further evaluate his standing.
“Diversity & inclusion are business imperatives on which Publicis Groupe will not negotiate. While fostering a work environment that is inclusive of all talent is a collective responsibility, it is leadership’s job to nurture the career aspirations and goals of all our talent. Promoting gender equality starts at the top and the Groupe will not tolerate anyone speaking for our organization who does not value the importance of inclusion. Publicis Groupe works very hard to champion diversity and will continue to insist that each agency’s leadership be champions of both diversity and inclusion.”
A long-time Publicis executive, Mr. Roberts is a well-known ad executive whose career has also included stints at Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo, where he served as Regional Vice President Middle East in 1982.
The issue of gender diversity in the ad industry was fired up earlier this year when J. Walter Thomson chief communications officer Erin Johnson filed a lawsuit against former CEO Gustavo Martinez.
Johnson alleged that Mr. Martinez had a pattern of racist and sexist behavior, including making jokes about rape and offensive remarks about black people, allegations he has denied.