Blog sparks advertising industry's #MeToo movement

After a blog caused an outpouring of fury, hundreds of women working in the advertising industry have described harassment, assault and discrimination, in what is now being called the industry's #MeToo moment.

Zoe Scaman, a leading figure in the advertising industry, said she received emails from women worldwide detailing incidents ranging from sexist statements in meetings to sexual assault and rape. As a result, she is now collaborating with leaders of organizations representing women in the advertising sector who want to make effective change instead of just another policy pledge.

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She has removed identifying details, but included some examples inher blog titled "Mad Men, Furious Women"`.

In one instance, a woman described how her boss assaulted her when she was 24. He followed her into the restroom, where he proceeded to assault her and later suggested they "forget about it". In her letter, she stated that it was neither.

Yet another was paid £20,000 less than a man with the same experience and seniority, while a senior executive lost her job just six months after bringing in new business because she was pregnant.

Women described being told to "suck it up" and "take it for the team" when faced with sexual advances from their clients.

Despite the anger expressed by most of the women who contacted Scaman, many did not want their stories posted online.

She stated that many women are scared of being honest about the abuse they face. NDAs silence these women. They are pushed out.

It's particularly problematic that those men continue to lead these agencies and succeed.

Scaman believes that even though misogyny and discrimination exist in every field, advertising has a particular reputation as a "maverick" industry that's especially harmful to women.

She went on to say that the problem with claiming to live outside the rules of society is that you get away with bad behaviour, and it is dismissed as just a typical occurrence in advertising.

Approximately 41 per cent of respondents to a 2018 survey by TimeTo, the industry group set up after #MeToo, had experienced harassment at work, but around 83per centdidn't report it.

More than half of women surveyed by the '3% Conference' in 2016 had been sexually harassed in the workplace - 88per centby a colleague, 70per centby a superior, and 49 per cent by a client. The average number of complaints was one out of three. Sixty-eight per cent of women had also been told they were "too aggressive" and 64 per cent said they were "too emotional".

Scaman has joined a coalition of women's advocacy organizations, and claims there is the potential for a "real change" in the advertising industry. It is her wish that NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) are no longer used to protect the harassers and the assaulters, and the industry should employ a "central repository" where harassment can be independently and externally reported.

Scaman further says that in cases of sexual assaults, a woman can only escalate the issue via the company's human resources department, but it is a known fact that HR is only "there to silence staff and avoid scandal".

However, establishing an unbiased third party that women could go to, would put the fear of God into the agencies.

Advertising agencies should fund such a body rather than make an easy-to-forget pledge if they are serious about tackling the issue. She said that she doesn't care about pledges or codes of conduct because they don't mean anything. Adding that solutions like those don't work and changing policies is what's needed.