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Dentsu manager in Indonesia commits suicide through alleged overwork

Dentsu Media employee Jiro Inao has committed suicide in Indonesia, through the pressure of overwork according to police. Inao, 48, was a senior manager. His family have refused an autopsy.

Dentsu’s CEO in Japan resigned last year over a similar scandal. Dentsu has expressed its regret.

Inao’s tragic end is another PR and reputational disaster for the giant Japanese communications company and unnervingly close to home for Dentsu Aegis Network, which is the UK-based media arm of Dentsu based on Aegis/Carat. In London Dentsu Aegis has made a great play of its commitment to staff welfare.

Nasty doings in agencies are rising to the surface with alarming regularity – as in the Gustavo Martinez/Erin Johnson affair at JWT New York.

More such instances will doubtless emerge. So far all we’ve seen from most of the big networks are isolated instances of hand-wringing (even that was lacking from WPP in the Martinez case).

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