The time for racist casting is over: Alex Bennett-Grant of WE ARE Pi

Alex Bennett-Grant, Founder and CEO of the independent creative agency WE ARE Pi with headquarters in Amsterdam, demands that the industry end its “dirty little secret” of doing racist casting for ad campaigns. During a Lions Live session called Before You Shoot, he said that “there has been a silent act of violence” that implies excluding, eliminating and stereotyping African Americans in advertising. He said the results of a poll of 500 contacts in the marketing sector, ad agencies, brands and production companies worldwide showed a generalized discrimination in casting and that “warned me about the dimensions of the problem.” Among the results, he noted that 94 percent of those surveyed “believe the advertising industry needs to take measures against racist decision-making in the casting process,” while 91 percent feel that “racist profiling is a problem in advertising casting,” 70 percent agree that “we need more African Americans in ads to portray an inclusive society,” 70 percent have seen “people excluded from a casting because they were African American” and 52 percent of those who spoke up about inclusive casting were “silenced or ignored.” “So it is time to act,” said Bennett-Grant, “because we cannot remain on the sidelines and wait for the advertising industry to change just because we want it to. No. Each one of us needs to take measures, big or small.”