Wieden + Kennedy Brazil creative leadership departs over controversial work

Three executive leaders at Wieden + Kennedy São Paulo have departed the agency after a creative film released for the Festival do Clube de Criação, a creative festival in the city, ignited controversy online. 

Executive creative directors Eduardo Lima and Renato Simoes and general director Fernanda Antonelli reported for their last day at the agency on Friday, Wieden + Kennedy confirmed, following backlash over its “Crises” publicity film for the festival released on 1 September.

The film depicted several historical events including the Inquisition, slavery in the U.S., the Spanish Civil War and World War II and ends with a clip of the current COVID-19 crisis. Each clip was followed by images of artistic or cultural movements that emerged or were related to those events, such as the Black Power Movement and the work Guernica by Pablo Picasso. 

hoje um publicitário vai estragar meu dia.

parabéns clube de criação ���� pic.twitter.com/yyz5DJFR96

— ana luiza �� (@anarroz) September 1, 2021

The creative drew negative feedback on social media, with people criticizing the use of tragic events in history to illustrate creative inspiration, especially slavery. 

enquanto isso no grupão da CCSP: https://t.co/XS7rS5jHwP pic.twitter.com/0t4ConxhNg

— mau (@Mauricioj_) September 2, 2021

horror... o horror... https://t.co/YNYhkyqSwm

— drey (@Andreykovski) September 2, 2021

daqui uns 50 anos publicitário vai ser uma profissão proibida tipo bixeiro por causa dessas coisas. é muita psicopatia pensar assim, desculpa. tipo o cara realmente acha que tudo bem a galera pegar fogo e morrer de fome pra ele ter um calhamaço TASCHEN na sala do apê de milhões. https://t.co/9mOkUZO7QF

— Lucas Silveira (@lucasfresno) September 2, 2021

eu fui na ficha e contei 47 pessoas envolvidas nesse filme publicitário bizarro. isso tem cara de ideia de homem, branco, sis, ht e com cargo alto que teve a ideia e NINGUÉM tem coragem de falar que é um lixo, um erro e a coisa só vai seguindo e vai pro ar ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https://t.co/IsAcsqiKEZ

— carol rocha (@tchulim) September 2, 2021

Within a few hours of the film’s release, Clube de Criação (Creative Club) took the ad off the air and removed the original post about the work on Twitter. The club later posted a joint statement with W+K that “as soon as the negative reactions surfaced, [they] understood how inappropriate the message is” and decided to remove the ad. 

Hoje, o Clube de Criação e a Wieden+Kennedy divulgaram um novo filme em suas redes. Tão logo as reações negativas surgiram, entendemos o quão imprópria a mensagem é - por isso decidimos retirá-lo imediatamente do ar. Pedimos as mais sinceras desculpas

— Clube de Criação OFICIAL (@CCSPoficial) September 1, 2021

In light of the leadership’s departure, Wieden + Kennedy São Paulo will be temporarily led by André Gustavo, global director of the Nike account and Felipe Ribeiro, creative director at the New York office. 

Wieden + Kennedy São Paulo has faced several creative leadership changes in recent weeks. Mariana Borga, creative director since 2019 recently departed, followed by head of art and creative director Fabiano Higashi, who joined the agency last year. 

As a result, in addition to serving as interim executive leadership, Gustavo and Ribeiro will oversee the restructuring of the agency’s creative department.

On Thursday, W+K issued an official statement to Brazilian trade publication Meio & Mensagem, saying it does not take “leadership changes lightly” but that “it was time for a change” and “the decision was not taken in isolation or just based on an incident.” 

It's not the first time Wieden + Kennedy has been called for cultural insensitivity. 

In 2020, the agency was among several to commit to releasing diversity data as part of non-profit 600&Rising’s “Commit to Change” initiative, following George Floyd’s murder by police officer Derek Chauvin. Released shortly after, the agency’s Q1 2020 diversity data showed its U.S. workforce was overwhelmingly white (65%). 

Wieden + Kennedy confirmed the departures but declined to go into further detail. According to an agency spokesperson, W+K will “announce a new leadership team in the coming weeks.”

(This article first appeared on CampaignLive.com)