Invisible labors: U.S. advertising agencies’ race and ethnicity problem

Abstract

Despite 50 years of programming such as the Minorities in Advertising Internship Program, U.S. advertising agencies are still overwhelmingly White. This study uses in-depth interviews with 32 advertising professionals of various races and ethnicities to examine how they experience working in the industry. The findings reveal several forms of invisible labor that racial and ethnic minorities feel compelled to perform because of their difference, including assimilating to White norms, working harder to prove their worth, educating agency leaders, and serving as a mediator to challenge stereotypical representations. The findings reveal how agencies capitalize upon and benefit from workers’ race and ethnicity as well as the invisible labor performed because of that identity.