faithd's posterous

So it’s been more one week since SXSW ended and more than two since the Blacks In Tech event was held during the first evening of the Interactive portion of the conference. Inquiring minds want to know why the panel and especially the Q&A content that followed has been pulled from UStream and not re-aired as indicated. Considering James Andrews some made rather wild accusations, one would think the evidence of such outlandish behavior would have been prominently displayed.

We Want Answers!!

Jeffrey L. Bowman, Partner, Marketing Strategy Associate Director at  Ogilvy served as moderator and host of this event. As the corporate mouthpiece he’s not only put his reputation on the line but the entire company. So what are they hiding? After all he concurred with the puffery of the self-appointed “Key Influencer” in claiming they were Kanye’d by yours truly. They also claimed what I asked had no place at their event. If not then….when?

I’d also imagine SXSW would like to maintain its reputation of transparency and not be inadvertently tied to those who would undermine their efforts at inclusion.

Ogilvy Worldwide has always had a corporate policy where employees contributed to communities and society at large. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) has a Code of Ethics whereby professionals are urged to:

Protect and advance the free flow of accurate and truthful information.

Foster informed decision making through open communication.

Protect confidential and private information.

Promote healthy and fair competition among professionals.

Avoid conflicts of interest.

Work to strengthen the public’s trust in the profession.

I can’t help but wonder what David Ogilvy would think about an employee or contractor who has no such standards representing the company that bears his name.

This is also part of a larger issue of those who want to contribute tangible means that empowers a collective to keep them competitive with the rest of society versus those who wish to gut, dissect and misdirect resources for individual gain. If anyone claims to be a conduit to the black community (especially when it's for their personal profit) but isn't willing to be held accountable they shouldn't be allowed to speak on our behalf!

I suspect the curious silence from Andrews and Bowman is akin to an admission of guilt for lying about what took place. After writing a blog post and resending it on Twitter every two hours for two days Andrews suddenly has nothing more to say? If you yell, “Fire” there had better be smoke! My name may have been dragged into it by this dynamic duo – with Andrews overfiring – but I can assure you this is no longer about me. This is about the public behavior of two male executives  who saw fit to demean and castigate a woman who held up a mirror to their selling black folks out for a buck.

According to this professional there is no separation between online and real-life reputation anymore. We’re not without flaws but should those who claim to be experts and influencers be held to a higher standard? What do you think about that? What real progress has been made for those others claim to speak for?

If, as Andrews claimed I had introduced inappropriate topics or whatever twisted logic he used then Bowman should have no problem airing the content. After all, if they are the professionals they claim to be it would have been relatively simple to just replay the video and let the evidence of the alleged infraction be presented to the world.  After receiving some scrutiny Andrews has since deleted Tweets and sanitized his original post of its most inflammatory content. Which is something a confident, competent man would have never done to begin with.

I stand by everything I said…but can they?

Their hiding the content of the event at SXSW is reprehensible but we can demand they release it – unless they took the cowardly way out and destroyed it. Either way they should be held accountable for their actions since it was they who initiated the charge of sedition to begin with.

We Want The Tape!!

Since they’re so fond of Twitter I’m urging interested parties to  send them a message demanding they produce the evidence, unaltered and unedited of course. Every day they continue to hide it their credibility sinks a little bit further into oblivion. How long will their white patrons continue to support the lying liars and the lies they tell?  

Jeffrey L Bowman is at @jeffreylbowman @blacksintech and @whyogilvy.

James Andrews is at @keyinfluencer  and @beeverywhere 

Of course the focus should be on contacting Ogilvy directly. They have an interesting hierarchy structure but as best I can tell Carla Hendra is the CEO and Chair of Ogilvy’s New York office.  Their main switchboard is 212-237-4000. You can call and inquire how they plan to respond to the removal of the content from the Blacks In Tech event and when we can expect it to be posted.

 Everyone should be able to watch and listen to it and judge for themselves.

I have an expanded version of this post at my personal blog Acts Of Faith In Love And Life.