Jane Austin in Cannes: marketers pick a bad time to shrink from DE&I

You’d think the far-right surge in the European elections, racist and misogynist fervour escalating on social media and the possibility of Donald Trump coming back into power would be enough to make business and brand leaders at Cannes look on DEI with fresh urgency.

But marketers are getting quieter on the subject. The world is on the brink but the people who could be shouting loudest on diversity, equality, inclusion and social justice – the advertising industry – are keeping schtum.

The industry ran for the hills after the Bud Light debacle last year and now it seems to have set up home there. A study by the ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing released at Cannes this week shows marketers are less willing to take a public stand on DE&I, even though they say they are committed to the issue.

Thankfully, not everyone is so reluctant to put their head above the parapet. Celebrity couple John Legend and Chrissy Teigen spoke of their fear of the possibility of Donald Trump getting back in the White House during their session at the Palais on Monday, with Teigen reflecting on the moment she called Trump a “Pussy ass bitch” back in 2019 as a career highlight.

Efforts are being made to turn the volume up on DE&I with events at Cannes this year including Inkwell Beach, Club Quarantine, Black at Cannes and the Equality Lounge. Cannes Lions has also pledged to spend over $1 million to provide free passes to members of underrepresented communities and has entered a partnership with TimeTo, an industry initiative taking on sexual harassment in advertising.

But the regression in the industry is deeply concerning, with reports of budget cuts on DEI initiatives and backtracking on diverse hiring.

DE&I isn’t just on the decline, it is under attack from right-wing politicians and conservative activists. And one of its loudest critics is speaking at Cannes on Wednesday. WPP’s guest speaker is Elon Musk, who posted on his social media platform, X, that “DEI must DIE”. Inviting Musk, who casts corporate DEI as institutionalised racism, to take the stage at the Palais surely takes the industry’s hypocrisy on DE&I to another level.