Virtual Colloquium: Leading Practitioners Reflect on Race/Ethnicity/Diversity in the Advertising Industry

Advertising & Society Quarterly held its fourth annual Colloquium on December 3–4, 2020. During this virtual event, three panels approached the topic of race/ethnicity/diversity in advertising from different angles. This article presents the colloquium's second session featuring industry leaders discussing how they took concerns about race/ethnicity/diversity into account in their recent COVID-19 public service announcement (PSA) work. Tara DeVeaux of Wild Card and 3AM describes two ideas that drove the work on the "You Will See Me" campaign: Black excellence in coming together as a community and Black folks being able to be heard by speaking up for themselves. Bill Imada details the origins and impact of the #WashTheHate campaign encouraging hand washing and fighting against anti-Asian bias, hate, and harassment. Louis Maldonado addresses how his agency created a mask promotion PSA for Latino communities by using imagery of mask-wearing Lucha Libre wrestlers and a culturally important phrase emphasizing Latinos' strength in facing adversity. Maldonado also explains the difference among the terms Hispanic, Latino, and Latinx as well as when they are best used.