‘Old, white man’ makes a stir at Cannes in Cairns
What’s the worst possible response one could give when it’s pointed out they’re on an expert panel dominated by “old, white men?”
Dr Mumbo has found an uncomfortable new contender, thanks to B&T’s tropical retreat for the ad and media industries, Cannes in Cairns.
Credit where it’s due, the bumper event, which attracted some 1500 attendees this year, hosted a number of sessions probing some big issues.
While Dr Mumbo sadly couldn’t attend to work on a tan, it’s understood that at one session on Tuesday a well-known adman sparked something of a stir with his response to a query about a lack of racial diversity.
“Let’s get [her] up here then,” he suggested, referring to the first person of colour he could find in the crowd.
That kind of remark didn’t go down well with the out-of-towners in the room.
Multiple spies tell Dr Mumbo that it drew audible gasps and brought proceedings temporarily to a halt.
You’ve got to hand it to those old, white men – they never fail to meet expectations.
Dr Mumbo is suffering a serious case of FOMO.
Dr Mumbo, who must admit he’s come down with a serious case of FOMO, was excited to hear about a reef cruise that had been arranged as well. Although we hear the prospect of being trapped on a boat with their peers, with no escape, during the all-day cruise, will have a few making a beeline for early flights home later today.
To those remaining, don’t forget to slip, slop, slap beneath that harsh north Queensland sun – especially you old, white men.
Why not name them then?
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Sure, Mumbrella Awards Judging Panels. Happy to.
56% of the jury for the Mumbrella Awards this year is comprised of people identifying as female.
As for the individual groups themselves, that is much harder to create a dead even split in all the groups as you have to construct them around juror requests and conflicts of interest among other things. But regardless, every jury group is mixed to some extent if not exactly 50/50 on the gender front.
Thanks for the comment.
Damian Francis – Mumbrella
Comprised of mostly white men with unconscious bias. Prove us wrong. Post the gender and diversity splits of judging panels.
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Good to see someone raised the horrific comment by the ‘old white man’, but too scared to white the name of the ‘old white man’? Also need to hide behind the moniker Dr Mumbo? No journalist could put their name to this article? Is there a chance Mumbrella has a commercial relationship with the said ‘old white man’?
Don’t call it out if you need to hide from the old white men! If you are too scared to call them out, don’t call them out. His comment was revolting, from the ‘old white man’
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“Old white men”.
A phrase that encapsulates ageism, racism and sexism.
Well done.
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I had my team run some analysis on the image. The offending old white man appears to be one Abraham Simpson. I don’t know him personally and I’m not sure why he was on a panel but we believe his son may work at Atomic.
We’ve also uncovered evidence that suggests Dr Mumbo is not a qualified doctor. They recently diagnosed themselves with FOMO, which we have determined is not a medical condition.
In short, it’s all pretty sus.
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Thanks, Damian. Would be interesting to see the outcomes of the categories judged by all white male panelists. Personally – have never been in one that has more than 1-2 women at the table.
Realistically, judging and conference panels should not be comprised of all white men in 2023. You need to address your own systemic issues before calling out competitor publications.
Your front page is quite often filled with majority white men’s opinion pieces, some even talking to women’s issues.
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Do the sizzle reels and Instagram stories from the media types at this aforementioned event feel eerily reminiscent of the early to mid 00s excess pop culture footage interspersed during The Big Short before it all comes crumbling down?
Bunch of execs and directors on one last junket before their clients cut all their spend and they have to cut half of their workforce.
It’s abhorrent.
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A little birdie told me who this might have been.
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What good does posting this story without any names do other than invoke speculation. If this is news that the industry should know, let’s hear exactly who said it.
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Thanks for the feedback, Interesting/Mumbrella Awards Judging Panel.
As I always say during our events and our awards judging, feedback is always welcome. You were also more than welcome to approach me with this feedback earlier as well. It sounds like you have judged at least once and have a strong opinion on this – I would be keen on discussing that experience with you.
I can’t say what the outcome of “all white male panelists” will be because there are none. But I’ll certainly concede that from time to time there have been live judging groups with far fewer women than men. There have also been groups the other way around.
That’s largely because, try as we might to balance each jury group perfectly, as I mentioned previously, when you consider juror category preference as well as conflicts of interest, and then when it comes to live judging, judges who can’t attend on the day, you naturally get skewed groups one way or the other. It will happen again this year, I am sure.
Again, as mentioned, overall, it skews slightly towards women this year and has in previous years as well.
I would be more than happy to discuss this further with you. Please do drop me an email. I look forward to finding out more about your experiences and ideas.
Damian – Mumbrella
Well handled IMO.
Shame you missed out Mumbo..
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Good to see he’s on some more industry panels coming up. What will he say next?
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How do you know they have unconscious bias? That comment ounds awfully gender biased to me.
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