American Marketing Association News: "AS the creative head of the world's biggest advertising group, Neil French can usually be relied on to come up with a catchy slogan.
But yesterday, with his career as worldwide creative director of the advertising agency WPP abruptly terminated, it seemed clear that 'women are crap'' was not one of his most successful.
Mr French, a leading figure in British advertising's golden age in the 1970s, provoked a fierce row over workplace sexism after delivering a diatribe against women colleagues at a conference in Toronto.
According to the city's Globe & Mail newspaper, when asked to explain the dearth of women in advertising, the cigar-chomping Mr French said: 'Women don't make it to the top because they don't deserve to. They're crap.''
He added that women inevitably 'wimp out and go suckle something''. During the discussion, Mr French, 61, had a waitress wearing a French maid's uniform serve him drinks. His comments provoked several people to walk out and one of his senior female colleagues later to write an angry rejoinder on the internet that was sent around the advertising world.
Nancy Vonk, co-chief creative officer at WPP's Ogilvy agency in Toronto, said she was 'still partially paralysed'' by his remarks, which were made two weeks ago. "
- I think the old bastard should have been fired.. his time is over.. Women make great advertising executives, my boss is one. she has made me better at my craft and she kicks ass!
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