#also continues the theme of her being a whiskey drinker

[biitchcakes]

"she's like, your age." is so interesting to me and has made me laugh since they confirmed it because it means Jessica Drew fully Mothers™️ Gwen and Cindy while being in the same general age bracket.

also means she's a lot younger than a good number of her fellow Avengers when she's on the team.

[hops-hunny]

Angels on Earth

Pairing: Ron Weasley x Chubby!Reader

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 1.8k

Request: “CONGRATS ON 300 FOLLOWERS!!!! I love your writing sm <3

this is my first time ever making a request and recently I found out that the person I was dating is still in love with their ex so I'm looking for comfort rn hehe

could you do a 23, 33, 35 with Ron, a mix of fluff and smut? chubby/plus size fem reader please”

Summary: Ron thought he was obvious, but it was clear (Y/n) was more obvious.

Warnings: Sexual themes

A/N: This took a while but I’ve also been busy but, enjoy!

23. “Cause I never believed there was a heaven till I found you.”

33. “Would you fuck me if I was skinny?” “I’d fuck you right now.”

35. “If you wanted a kiss you should’ve just said so.”

For as long as Ron could remember, he had always found his potions partner to be beautiful. Who could blame him? (Y/n) was a beautiful girl. Round cheeks, soft all around, beautiful (h/c) hair, and the prettiest set of (e/c) eyes he had ever seen. But that wasn’t originally what drew him in, it was everything else. (Y/n) had an aura that surrounded her that was so bright, so full of life. Everyone who befriended her was always in a positive mood, smiles seen left and right from the jokes she’d tell. Even right now, with her hair pulled back from her face and the cute little goggles she insisted on wearing, he couldn’t help but admire her.

“Right. I think that should be it.” She said, pushing the goggles up her face as she turned her head to look at him. His face flushed and if she had noticed, she didn’t say much. “That is unless you fucked something up. Merlin knows how bad you are with Potions Weasley.” she giggled, his heart pulling and racing in his chest. 

“Oi! ‘M not that bad. Plus you didn’t let me touch anything, should be fine unless you managed to make a mistake.” He leaned towards her a bit with a devious smirk. “But it’s impossible for you to do that isn’t it? I forgot you were just a perfect princess.” He pulled away, eyes trained on the potion in the cauldron in front of them. Amortentia, was it? He found it a bit strange because he couldn’t smell anything but the girl’s perfume no matter how far he leaned in. In his own state of confusion, he completely missed the girl’s own shocked look on her face.

“What do you smell?” she questioned, gathering her things due to the period drawing to a close. His eyes widened at his realization before calming down. Now was a better time than ever. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before sighing.

“You.” his eyes shot open at the sound of a snort. (Y/n) had made her way towards the exit of the potions room, (e/c) eyes rolling at him as she shot him a smile. She went to leave the room before giving him an up and down.

“If you wanted a kiss you should’ve just said so.” she teased, shooting him a wink before exiting the room. He groaned, rubbing his hands up and down his face as he adjusted the awkward bulge in his pants. He stood, gathering his things as he huffed to himself.

“I’m in deep aren’t I?” he said out loud, ignoring the look his slimy potion’s teacher gave him. Without another word, he left continuing on his path to his next dreadful class of the day.

------------------------

“She probably thought you were joking.” Harry said, causing Ron to give him a glare. Even though there was a big possibility that Harry was right, he didn’t want to believe him. He thought his attempt was a good one! He was direct about what he meant, right?

“He’s got a point. You guys usually joke around and mess with each other a lot. She probably thought you were cracking a joke. Have you tried just telling her how you feel?” Luna asked as if the answer was obvious. Ron felt his brow twitch as he sighed, sinking down in his seat more as he threw his head back.

“What can be more obvious than saying you smell someone in your Amortentia? Do you guys even think?” He questioned.

“Do you? Cause if you did then you’d know that was a poor attempt.” Hermione chimed. Although at first he was sure his attempt was good, that it was obvious, suddenly he was beginning to have second thoughts. Was he clear enough? Sure, you could say one thing but he’d be the first to admit his actions didn’t match. He huffed, looking at his friends, desperation hidden in his eyes.

“Well, what should I say then?” 

“Say something truthful! Let your heart speak for what your actions couldn’t.” Ginny chimed, causing them all to give her a strange look. She crossed her arms, looking away with red cheeks. “What? I think I’d know what chicks like, I do shag em afterall.”

“So tell us, what does your heart say Ron?” Luna asked, he sighed as he racked his brain. He liked her a lot. How could he not? (Y/n) was beautiful, a gift from the heavens above. The softness of her skin, the roundness of her tummy, and those beautiful luscious thighs. He was surprised no one else had made a move on her yet. She was kind too, always willing to help her fellow (y/h/h) in need.

A lovesick dopey look took over his face. “I...I’d say…” he let out a dreamy noise as hearts took over his eyes, “I never believed there was a heaven till I found you. Never believed angels walked among us at Hogwarts, that I think she’s amazing and I-”

“Okay ew that’s enough. I’m gonna be sick. Save it for her.” his sister said, grimacing as she stood up. “And with that note, I’m gone. Why not tell  her at the Gryfindor party tonight? I’m sure she’ll be there!” Ron gulped nervously. That soon? Surely a few hours wasn’t enough time to prepare! Maybe he’d try in a few months…

However as he looked across the hall, seeing some twit practically eye fucking her, it was settled. Tonight he would tell her and if not, he’d at least make some progress.

-----------------------------------------------------

Ron let out a shaky deep breath, wiping his sweaty hands along the front of his jeans. Whether it was the sweltering heat of all the warm bodies, the shots he had taken, or the thought of what he had set out to do tonight he didn’t know, but either way he was burning like a phoenix. His eyes trailed the room nervously, looking for (Y/n). How was he sure she’d be here anyways? She wasn’t a frequent attender to parties, only showing up to them sporadically. However at the sound of a familiar laugh-snort combo, he had all he needed. 

In his buzzed(and slightly drunken) haze, he followed the sound blindly, face heating up at the girl's appearance. She wore a blush colored bodycon dress that clung to the folds and curves of her body nicely.. Her hair was styled differently than usual, but suited her perfectly nonetheless. Most things did. And when she saw him? Her face broke out in a bright smile as she hiccuped, handing her half empty cup to one of her friends. She stumbled her way over to him. He steadied her by placing his hand on her waist, looking down at her.

“Ronnn! Omg Ronnie, what’re you doing here?” she hiccuped again, giggling as she stared up at him. He smiled back at her softly, stroking along the softness of her waist.

“ I could ask you the same thing, love, you’re not much of a drinker usually.” he placed a hand on her cheek, thankful for the liquid courage flowing through his system. “You alright? Come on, let’s sit you down. You don’t seem to be too steady.” he said, guidning her towards the couch. When they got there, he expected her to sit next to him but was in shock as she parked herself in his lap. She wrapped an arm around his neck, smiling down at him drunkenly. He handed her a glass of water, the same one he had been handed earlier when he was getting a bit out of hand. She thanked him, sipping on it at a slow pace. 

After a few minutes, the hiccuping and giggles had died down from her, leaving her to form goosebumps at their current position. She was fully seated on the boy’s lap and he had his arms wrapped around her, rubbing his fingers along her soft pudgy sides. She bit her lip as she looked off to the side, before bringing her eyes back to his.

“Uh, Ron,” she started, looking down as she picked at the skin around her nail beds. Letting out a deep sigh, she continued, “Can I ask you something?” her heart began to race rapidly as she looked at him, watching as he nodded before offering her a soft smile.

“Course. What’s up?” How should she phrase it? Should she be simple? Should she-

“Would you fuck me if I was skinny?” she blurted out, eyes widening. Although she had wanted to ask him something about if he was attracted to her, she hadn’t intended on being so...bold. She was known for speaking her mind but not in situations like this! In a state of panic, she went to stand up but was pulled down by a strong pair of arms, pulling her close to an even stronger, toned chest. He chuckled in her ears, hair tickling the edge of her neck.

“Shit princess, I mean...I’d fuck you right now.” his grip on her sides tightened, trailing one hand on her thigh. Out of all the things she could’ve said, this was the last one Ron expected. (Y/n), his snarky potions partner, in his lap in that god forsaken dress asking if he’d fuck her. He felt his own heart begin to race. Did she mean to say it? Well, did she mean to say it to him? Or did she just want his opinion for someone else?

“O-oh.” she stuttered out. (Y/n) pulled back some, turning her head to look at him, finding that his eyes instantly were drawn to hers. 

“Do you mean that?” they both asked. Ron’s cheeks turned red as (Y/n) felt her own face grow warm. Both of them let out breaths they didn’t even know they were holding, laughing with one another.

“I meant it but, did you?” she asked, breath hitching of the closeness of their faces to one another. She could smell the fire whiskey mixed with hints of cannabis and weed mixing with it making her absolutely intoxicated. He nodded, pressing his forehead against hers.

“‘Course I did, love. You don’t have to be skinny for me to do anything with you, let alone fuck you. Because trust me,” he trailed a hand along her upper thigh, sliding it between the soft expanse of them. “It’d be my pleasure to fuck a woman with a body like yours. A woman so soft, so tender, bet that cunt of yours is tight and dripping. Isn’t it?” the girl squeaked, clenching her thighs around his hand. He leaned down, pecking her lips softly before pulling away, (Y/n) whimpering  in a desperate attempt to let him know she wanted more..

“And if I were to grant you that pleasure right now?” she purred, placing a soft hand on his cheek which he gladly leaned into, a dark chuckle leaving his lips.

“I’d be the luckiest man alive.”

[cl-01-kestis]

Little One - Darth Talon x Female Bounty Hunter!Reader | nsfw

Summary: Darth Talon was your target for the night, kill her and get your money and move on. But you don’t realise just how loud your thoughts are.

Warnings: lots of tension, Talon being a power top, lots of sexual themes! blood

(Note: I realised there was hardly any appreciation posts for our queen so here ya go. Also Darth Talon is 100% bisexual you cannot convince me otherwise.)

This was so out of your comfort zone; a club like this, full of dimwits and drinkers with no other motive but to black out from alcohol consumption and maybe smoke or snort some spice. You were uncomfortable, but you were here to do a job, a job that could secure your place as a bounty Hunter for the rest of your life.

The bounty was placed on a woman named Darth Talon, you admit you had heard of her many times before through friends and people you worked beside. All you knew was that she was a Twi’lek woman with red skin and black tattoos, and also an infamous Sith trained by Darth Krayt, which would make this mission slightly impossible.

You sat at the bar yourself, quiet as you sipped on the whiskey in your glass. Your thoughts were running wild as you kept thinking if you had your blaster clipped to your belt, wondering it someone had maybe pick pocketed your credits. Corellia wasn’t a place to trust, especially at night time.

People sat either side of you at the busy counter, paying for all kinds of drinks as they chatted obnoxiously loud. Your eye twitched in irritation and you found yourself clutching your glass even tighter, unnerved as your body sat tense in between the crowd of irritating people. The air smelled of pure alcohol, filling your senses as you sipped your own as an attempt to cancel the smells out.

This wasn’t your thing, the whole nightclub scene, even though you had been brought up by crime sindicates your whole life. Your parents died a long time ago and you were adopted into a rogue bounty family at 6 years old, so crime is what you did best. You had been on missions in the past before but you had never been on one that required you to kill someone. You were 21 now but that didn’t mean you were skilled enough to require this job.

“Rough night?” You didn’t look up from your empty whiskey glass as a young woman sat down next to you, her voice as and smooth as silk as she ordered a Corellian wine. You hummed, ordering another whiskey as the barman flew by, collecting your glass and getting your drink as you let out a tired yawn.

“You wouldn’t believe it” You replied to the woman’s comment, earning a seductive chuckle from her as you rubbed your eyes and popped a few of your joints in your fingers.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I couldn’t help but notice the crest on your shoulder” She pointed out, causing you to pause that you were doing to turn and look at her.

You had the fright of your life when your eyes landed on the woman you had been hired to take down, Darth Talon. Her ruby red skin was covered in a layer of sweat, as if she had been dancing and went to the bar for a break. She didn’t smell bad though, she smelled sweet, like spice. Her tattoos were incredibly noticeable since all she was wearing was a black bralette and a short black mini skirt. Long black leather boots clung up to her thighs and underneath her skirt was her lightsaber clipped to a leather thigh harness. You blushed and quickly looked away.

“Y-yeah, business” You cleared your throat, taking the whiskey glass the barman had just set down in front of you and taking a quick sip, eager to wash out your anxiety as the attractive Twi’lek female sat next to you with her legs crossed and eyes fully focused on you.

“You seem a little young to be a bounty hunter” She smirked, voice entangled with amusement as she leaned forward and took a thin strand of your hair, twirling it playfully between her red, slender fingers, long black stiletto nails poking at your cheek as she continued to flirt.

“Not here for me, I hope” She stared at you so intensely, mouth curling into a large smile to reveal her sharp K9’s that poked her bottom lip. You felt your skin crawl with goosebumps as she let go of your hair, the twisted strand untangling back to its original form as she leaned back and took the champagne glass beside her. You gulped, not replying and instead deciding to accept your fate of her killing you in a back alley somewhere.

As if reading your thoughts, Talon let out a giggle, sipping on the red wine in her glass and swirling it about all whilst maintaining eye contact with you. This wasn’t good, you were so dead.

“Take my advice and leave my bounty, smart move if you want to live” She commented, placing her glass back down on the counter as she pushed her chest out a bit, looking your body up and down as if it was a piece of meat.

“Planning on it” You sighed, taking the small disc from your pocket and placing it on the counter to reveal a holo image of her mugshot hovering above it. Darth Talon smirked at herself, picking up the disc and crushing it with little to no effort in the palm of her hand. The crushed pieces of the bounty disc collapsed onto the counter underneath her and she looked at her hand to check if it was damaged.

“Smart move, little one” Her nickname for you made you blush, looking away as you sipped on your whiskey once more, trying to flush out the uneasy feeling stirring in your stomach.

“You know, your thoughts are terribly loud” Talon grinned, giving you the side eye as she swirled her wine and took a rather big sip. You tried thinking of something to say but the embarrassment you felt stopped you from saying anything at all. You opened your mouth to say something but all that came out was a small whimper. Oh maker you were screwed.

Talon heard your noise and scooted a bit closer to you, her strong arm wrapping around your waist and pulling you close as her face rest on your shoulder. You were tensing so hard your muscles started to ache, your mouth drying up and tongue going numb with concern. Darth Talon was known widely for how flirtatious and in touch with her sexuality she was, surely you weren’t under her spell that quickly, right? You were smarter than this.

“Deny your feelings all you want, I can feel your heart race” She whispered, biting the lobe of your ear with her sharp K9’s and drawing a small moan from you as you struggled against her touch. Talon pulled away and kissed your cheek, licking her lips playfully and stroking your hip with her other arm. You were putty in her hands, every move she made brought you closer to falling at her feet and you felt like an idiot.

You should’ve pushed her away like you were supposed to, she killed many people and was considered one of the most dangerous people in the galaxy, but it felt so right being treated like this. You didn’t know whether it was because of how touch starved you were or the fact you had dated guys your whole life when really it was women you liked. There were so many thoughts buzzing around your head and Darth Talon was having a ball rummaging through each and every one of them.

“You like girls, dear?” She raised a brow, grabbing your chin with her free hand and drawing your gaze to hers. Her golden eyes boiled into your soul but something about them made you feel so on edge, but in a good way, a really good way. You gave her a curt nod, gulping down your emotions as she inches closer to you and cupped your cheek with the hand that was holding your chin.

“Perfect, that means I can do this” Talon pressed her plump lips against yours and you were immediately enchanted, closing your eyes and kissing her back as the arm around your waist tightened it’s grip. Your mind was brainwashed with this feeling you were recieving, you wrapped your arms around her neck and forgot about the whiskey, pulled her body close to yours and deepening the kiss by opening your mouth, granting her access.

Talon licked your bottom lip and bit it hard, earning a groan from you as a metallic taste touched your tastebuds and hers as well. She tasted your blood on her tongue and she sucked very slightly, enjoying the taste and moaning as it trailed down her throat. Your lip stung as her tongue trailed along it once more, licking up the remains and eventually pulling away to give you a breather.

Neither of you exchanged a word as she drank the last bit of her champagne and allowed you time to finish your whiskey. Downing it, you nodded to her and let her drag you away from the bar and through the nightclub. You both squished past bodies of people who were dancing, neon lights messing with your vision but your gaze stayed on the woman holding your hand. Talon shoved past people in her way, not bothering to excuse herself as she approached the exit of the club and turned back to you.

“Ready to have the time of your life, little one?” She smirked as soon as the two of you got out of the club, wrapping her arms around your waist and kissing your neck as you two stood out in the open. You nodded at her question, hands raising and tugging lightly on her appendages. You drew out a moan from the Sith lady holding you, in response she dug her teeth into your skin and you let out a surprised help, struggling with the pain as she licked away what you could only assume was blood where she indented her sharp teeth.

Not wasting a moment further, she called on a taxi whilst keeping a firm grip on you and kissed you passionately once more when the two of you were inside. The driver looked confused but drove away as she messed with you in the backseat, leaving bite marks and hickeys all over your neck and chest which left you breathless up until the driver stopped at her destination.

“Let’s go” She giggled, dragging you out of the taxi and running towards a hotel that looked expensive. As if the two of you were against time, you ran through the reception and you almost slipped against the shiny flooring as you approached the elevators. Talon’s cackles echoed around you as the elevator doors opened and you were regaining your balance, smiling yourself as you entered and let her choose what button to press.

She had you pinned against the elevator door, her hands running up underneath your shirt and gripping your breasts through your bra. She pulled your shirt up slightly and slipped one of her hands underneath your bra, squeezing the soft flesh of your breast and rolling your nipple between her fingers and reaching down to wrap her mouth around it. You found it hard suppressing your moans since she took care of you so well, this was the most action you’d ever gotten especially with a woman of her kind.

The elevator doors opened suddenly and Talon pulled away, watching you pull your shirt down and adjust yourself as you walked out into an open hallway full of doors. She laced her fingers with yours and took you down the hallway near the end, opening up the door which revealed a very expensive looking suite. You were pushed in and heard her lock the door behind you hurriedly, right before feeling a pair of hands slither around your waist and your back pressing against her chest. Her breath was hot against your ear as her hands slipped under your clothing, one in your shirt whereas the other in your trousers. Your breath hitched in your throat as you relaxed in her arms, leaning your head back on her shoulder and feeling her tongue lick at the skin on your neck as she slipped two fingers into you.

“Maker, you’re wet” She grinned, taking her hand out of your shorts and placing them in her mouth. You removed your shirt as soon as her hands were off you and unclasped your bra, shrugging it off and showing yourself to Talon who’s eyes glistened in delight.

“So pretty” She commented, tongue halting on her fingers as she started taking off her own clothes and watched as you pushed yourself up on the bed, eyes droopy and legs spread after you removed your trousers. Talon practically pounced on you once she removed her mini skirt and boots, her head level with your stomach as she left a trail of kisses down to the place you needed her most.

Looking up at the ceiling, you closed your eyes and let out a series of all kinds of moans, indicating the start of a very interesting night.

[bigyack-com]

#MeToo Clashes With ‘Bro Culture’ at Ad Agencies

The empowerment of women was a major theme of Advertising Week, a yearly gathering of roughly 100,000 ad-industry people in New York. The female R&B group TLC kicked off the program with a concert called “Future Is Female,” and there were panel discussions with titles like “Mom Bosses,” “#RewriteHerStory” and “Time’s Up, Pay Up: We Will Not Wait 100 Years.”The focus on women at the September conference ignited hope that the industry had learned something from the #MeToo movement. Then came closing night, with the rapper Pitbull taking the stage to perform the hit “I Like It.” Female dancers in revealing bodysuits surrounded him as he sang, “I ain’t playing with you, but I want to play with you.”For the ad executive Heather DeLand, the Pitbull show was a sign that the industry had not really changed. “Who thought this would be a good idea?” she later told The New York Times. “Is this a tacky 2019 reboot of ‘Mad Men’?”She was far from alone in feeling that the industry has not quite broken with its sexist past. Despite frequent criticism of gender imbalance in ad campaigns and the departures in recent years of several high-profile advertising executives, the business still rewards male executives who encourage or excuse inappropriate workplace behavior, and commercials promoting stereotypical images of women have not gone away.A number of agencies have tried to address the concerns by signing on to diversity initiatives meant to improve gender and racial representation in ad campaigns and in the workplace, but their attempts have clashed with a workplace culture still fueled by testosterone and booze.Creative teams are still led overwhelmingly by men, and women make up a third of chief marketing officers, although women and men join the industry in equal numbers, according to the trade groups She Runs It and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. The gender pay gap in marketing exceeds the average across other industries, according to Glassdoor.The ad agency TracyLocke, which has done work for Pepsi and the rum brand Captain Morgan, signaled that it wanted to set itself apart by promoting “Feminist Fridays” on its social media accounts and hiring female illustrators to create portraits of famous women for a series called “Making Herstory.” But according to Karen Dunbar, who spent nearly three years in the Connecticut office as a freelance creative director and copywriter, it remains an uncomfortable place for women.In a discrimination lawsuit filed against TracyLocke in June, Ms. Dunbar claimed that male colleagues referred to her as a “nagging wife,” suggested taping her mouth shut, threw papers in her face and rubbed her back in view of colleagues. She also accused Hugh Boyle, the company’s chief executive, of encouraging “male managers and subordinates to incorporate” a vulgar term for female genitalia “into their workplace dialogue.” (The suit has yet to be resolved.)Teresa Brammer, the agency’s chief human resources officer, said that Ms. Dunbar’s accusations were found by external investigators to be without merit, adding that “there is no higher priority than creating a safe, fair and equitable workplace for our associates.”Women at other agencies, even those that have created high-profile campaigns promoting diversity and equal treatment of men and women, said they still experienced the sexist treatment depicted on “Mad Men.” They described an industry steeped in “bro culture,” saying they are given nicknames like “the face” and “the body” and routinely passed over when it comes time to select who goes to conferences. Like their female predecessors from decades ago, they find themselves stuck on accounts for jewelry and beauty products.Kate Catalinac, a creative director at BBDO, an international agency with headquarters in New York with clients including Alka-Seltzer, Ikea and Macy’s, said that a man working on the same account at another agency once told her he intended to rape her. She also recalled a client who offered her new luggage in exchange for sex. And she said she was asked “countless times” to arrange for coffee service during casting sessions by people who assumed she was not in a leadership role.“Honestly, I have not seen change,” said Ms. Catalinac, who has worked in advertising 14 years.Molly Dunn, a freelance brand strategist, said her 20-year career had been marked by repeated episodes of harassment, discrimination and retaliation. “Part of the problem with advertising is that there’s cachet in being like, ‘We’re all so cool, everyone’s O.K. with jokes about ridiculous things,’” she said. “It’s a lot of creative people, a lot of big egos, and there’s a huge allowance for bad behavior.”Ms. Dunn said she was working in New York this year at Anomaly, an agency whose clients have included Coca-Cola and Beats by Dre, when she received an emailed invitation to a meeting in a space described as the “Taint Table.” “Taint” is slang for the perineum; the space linked two parts of the Anomaly office. Two other women, who described their experience at Anomaly on the condition that their names would not be used out of fear of professional repercussions, confirmed that people in the company used that term for the meeting space.Anomaly, headed by a woman with a leadership team that is nearly 80 percent male, started an initiative last year called Unreasonable Equals. The goal: to improve gender equality in marketing and product design.The company also helped Johnnie Walker mark Women’s History Month by replacing the male figure on whiskey-bottle labels with a new character, Jane Walker. The campaign won industry awards but drew mockery. The late-night host Stephen Colbert noted that “female drinkers everywhere will say, ‘Finally, a brand that’s condescending to me,’” and the actress Caitriona Balfe joked on Twitter that the whiskey was intended to be consumed “whilst sitting on a lady chair, in a lady room, which is part of a lady house, in a lady city, on a lady planet.”Ms. Dunn said she believed her complaints about her colleagues’ use of the term “taint table” led Anomaly to end her contract early.Karina Wilsher, the agency’s global chief executive, said in an email that Ms. Dunn’s contract “ended amicably, but came down to underperformance.” She added, “In the agency world today, there can often be noise and discontentment. Much of it is incredibly well-grounded and motivated by a genuine desire to advance the industry. In this case it is not.”Ms. Wilsher conceded that the slang term for the meeting area was used by certain employees, but said it was not an official name. In June, Anomaly’s executive chairman, Carl Johnson, sent an email to employees telling them to avoid “stupid, offensive slang for meeting areas.”In Richmond, Va., the Martin Agency, known for its Geico commercials, tried to reinvent itself after its longtime chief creative officer, Joe Alexander, left in 2017 amid reports of an investigation into multiple accusations of sexual harassment. The agency brought on its first female chief creative officer, Karen Costello, and first female chief executive, Kristen Cavallo, in its 53-year history.“Obviously, there is a need for a new direction,” Ms. Cavallo said in a statement at the time. The agency has since said that it closed the wage gap between male and female employees and doubled the number of women on its board.Mr. Alexander, the departed executive, has fought back, filing defamation lawsuits naming, among others, the Martin Agency and Diet Madison Avenue, an Instagram account that posted anonymous reports of sexual misconduct in the industry.As ad agencies try to shed their sexist legacies, they are under pressure from some major clients to have more diversity in their ad campaigns and on their staffs. At the same time, some women have said that routine exposure to sexist workplace behavior caused them to leave the business.Karen Kaplan, the chief executive of Hill Holliday, an agency based in Boston that has worked for clients including Bank of America, said the industry would continue to lose talented women if it did not change.“We lost a lot of talent because of equity issues, and they don’t want to deal with that behavior again,” Ms. Kaplan said. “If we want to get them back, we are going to have to be very sensitive to what drove them out of the business to begin with.”More than 20 agencies have sought certification from the 3% Movement, an organization that rates advertising companies on factors like turnover ratio by gender, parent support services and depiction of gender in ad campaigns.Only seven agencies have passed, according to Kat Gordon, the organization’s founder. But one metric has improved in the past decade, she said: The number of women in top executive roles has “seen a dramatic uptick.”Deidre Smalls-Landau is one of them. In August, she became the chief marketing officer in the United States for the marketing and media agency UM, which has created ads for Hulu and BMW.“I would not say it’s been easy — I’ve almost always been the only one,” she said of being a black woman in a heavily white and male industry. “And when you’re the only one, you develop a very tough skin.”Recently, Ms. Smalls-Landau said, there has been a “concerted effort” to improve diversity in advertising. UM is now 65 percent female, with more than 40 percent of its senior roles filled by women.“We need to create a culture of belonging, where you don’t feel like you’re tolerated, but celebrated,” she said.Mara Lecocq, who has worked in advertising for 13 years, said she started a database of female advertising workers called Where Are the Boss Ladies after realizing that she had never had a female supervisor. “Agencies are giving us diversity inclusion initiatives,” she said, “but in a meeting, men will still talk over you.” Read the full article

[bigyack-com]

At Ad Agencies, Public Support for Women Clashes With ‘Bro Culture’

The empowerment of women was a major theme of Advertising Week, a yearly gathering of roughly 100,000 ad-industry people in New York. The female R&B group TLC kicked off the program with a concert called “Future Is Female,” and there were panel discussions with titles like “Mom Bosses,” “#RewriteHerStory” and “Time’s Up, Pay Up: We Will Not Wait 100 Years.”The focus on women at the September conference ignited hope that the industry had learned something from the #MeToo movement. Then came closing night, with the rapper Pitbull taking the stage to perform the hit “I Like It.” Female dancers in revealing bodysuits surrounded him as he sang, “I ain’t playing with you, but I want to play with you.”For the ad executive Heather DeLand, the Pitbull show was a sign that the industry had not really changed. “Who thought this would be a good idea?” she later told The New York Times. “Is this a tacky 2019 reboot of ‘Mad Men’?”She was far from alone in feeling that the industry has not quite broken with its sexist past. Despite frequent criticism of gender imbalance in ad campaigns and the departures in recent years of several high-profile advertising executives, the business still rewards male executives who encourage or excuse inappropriate workplace behavior, and commercials promoting stereotypical images of women have not gone away.A number of agencies have tried to address the concerns by signing on to diversity initiatives meant to improve gender and racial representation in ad campaigns and in the workplace, but their attempts have clashed with a workplace culture still fueled by testosterone and booze.Creative teams are still led overwhelmingly by men, and women make up a third of chief marketing officers, although women and men join the industry in equal numbers, according to the trade groups She Runs It and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. The gender pay gap in marketing exceeds the average across other industries, according to Glassdoor.The ad agency TracyLocke, which has done work for Pepsi and the rum brand Captain Morgan, signaled that it wanted to set itself apart by promoting “Feminist Fridays” on its social media accounts and hiring female illustrators to create portraits of famous women for a series called “Making Herstory.” But according to Karen Dunbar, who spent nearly three years in the Connecticut office as a freelance creative director and copywriter, it remains an uncomfortable place for women.In a discrimination lawsuit filed against TracyLocke in June, Ms. Dunbar claimed that male colleagues referred to her as a “nagging wife,” suggested taping her mouth shut, threw papers in her face and rubbed her back in view of colleagues. She also accused Hugh Boyle, the company’s chief executive, of encouraging “male managers and subordinates to incorporate” a vulgar term for female genitalia “into their workplace dialogue.” (The suit has yet to be resolved.)Teresa Brammer, the agency’s chief human resources officer, said that Ms. Dunbar’s accusations were found by external investigators to be without merit, adding that “there is no higher priority than creating a safe, fair and equitable workplace for our associates.”Women at other agencies, even those that have created high-profile campaigns promoting diversity and equal treatment of men and women, said they still experienced the sexist treatment depicted on “Mad Men.” They described an industry steeped in “bro culture,” saying they are given nicknames like “the face” and “the body” and routinely passed over when it comes time to select who goes to conferences. Like their female predecessors from decades ago, they find themselves stuck on accounts for jewelry and beauty products.Kate Catalinac, a creative director at BBDO, an international agency with headquarters in New York with clients including Alka-Seltzer, Ikea and Macy’s, said that a man working on the same account at another agency once told her he intended to rape her. She also recalled a client who offered her new luggage in exchange for sex. And she said she was asked “countless times” to arrange for coffee service during casting sessions by people who assumed she was not in a leadership role.“Honestly, I have not seen change,” said Ms. Catalinac, who has worked in advertising 14 years.Molly Dunn, a freelance brand strategist, said her 20-year career had been marked by repeated episodes of harassment, discrimination and retaliation. “Part of the problem with advertising is that there’s cachet in being like, ‘We’re all so cool, everyone’s O.K. with jokes about ridiculous things,’” she said. “It’s a lot of creative people, a lot of big egos, and there’s a huge allowance for bad behavior.”Ms. Dunn said she was working in New York this year at Anomaly, an agency whose clients have included Coca-Cola and Beats by Dre, when she received an emailed invitation to a meeting in a space described as the “Taint Table.” “Taint” is slang for the perineum; the space linked two parts of the Anomaly office. Two other women, who described their experience at Anomaly on the condition that their names would not be used out of fear of professional repercussions, confirmed that people in the company used that term for the meeting space.Anomaly, headed by a woman with a leadership team that is nearly 80 percent male, started an initiative last year called Unreasonable Equals. The goal: to improve gender equality in marketing and product design.The company also helped Johnnie Walker mark Women’s History Month by replacing the male figure on whiskey-bottle labels with a new character, Jane Walker. The campaign won industry awards but drew mockery. The late-night host Stephen Colbert noted that “female drinkers everywhere will say, ‘Finally, a brand that’s condescending to me,’” and the actress Caitriona Balfe joked on Twitter that the whiskey was intended to be consumed “whilst sitting on a lady chair, in a lady room, which is part of a lady house, in a lady city, on a lady planet.”Ms. Dunn said she believed her complaints about her colleagues’ use of the term “taint table” led Anomaly to end her contract early.Karina Wilsher, the agency’s global chief executive, said in an email that Ms. Dunn’s contract “ended amicably, but came down to underperformance.” She added, “In the agency world today, there can often be noise and discontentment. Much of it is incredibly well-grounded and motivated by a genuine desire to advance the industry. In this case it is not.”Ms. Wilsher conceded that the slang term for the meeting area was used by certain employees, but said it was not an official name. In June, Anomaly’s executive chairman, Carl Johnson, sent an email to employees telling them to avoid “stupid, offensive slang for meeting areas.”In Richmond, Va., the Martin Agency, known for its Geico commercials, tried to reinvent itself after its longtime chief creative officer, Joe Alexander, left in 2017 amid reports of an investigation into multiple accusations of sexual harassment. The agency brought on its first female chief creative officer, Karen Costello, and first female chief executive, Kristen Cavallo, in its 53-year history.“Obviously, there is a need for a new direction,” Ms. Cavallo said in a statement at the time. The agency has since said that it closed the wage gap between male and female employees and doubled the number of women on its board.Mr. Alexander, the departed executive, has fought back, filing defamation lawsuits naming, among others, the Martin Agency and Diet Madison Avenue, an Instagram account that posted anonymous reports of sexual misconduct in the industry.As ad agencies try to shed their sexist legacies, they are under pressure from some major clients to have more diversity in their ad campaigns and on their staffs. At the same time, some women have said that routine exposure to sexist workplace behavior caused them to leave the business.Karen Kaplan, the chief executive of Hill Holliday, an agency based in Boston that has worked for clients including Bank of America, said the industry would continue to lose talented women if it did not change.“We lost a lot of talent because of equity issues, and they don’t want to deal with that behavior again,” Ms. Kaplan said. “If we want to get them back, we are going to have to be very sensitive to what drove them out of the business to begin with.”More than 20 agencies have sought certification from the 3% Movement, an organization that rates advertising companies on factors like turnover ratio by gender, parent support services and depiction of gender in ad campaigns.Only seven agencies have passed, according to Kat Gordon, the organization’s founder. But one metric has improved in the past decade, she said: The number of women in top executive roles has “seen a dramatic uptick.”Deidre Smalls-Landau is one of them. In August, she became the chief marketing officer in the United States for the marketing and media agency UM, which has created ads for Hulu and BMW.“I would not say it’s been easy — I’ve almost always been the only one,” she said of being a black woman in a heavily white and male industry. “And when you’re the only one, you develop a very tough skin.”Recently, Ms. Smalls-Landau said, there has been a “concerted effort” to improve diversity in advertising. UM is now 65 percent female, with more than 40 percent of its senior roles filled by women.“We need to create a culture of belonging, where you don’t feel like you’re tolerated, but celebrated,” she said.Mara Lecocq, who has worked in advertising for 13 years, said she started a database of female advertising workers called Where Are the Boss Ladies after realizing that she had never had a female supervisor. “Agencies are giving us diversity inclusion initiatives,” she said, “but in a meeting, men will still talk over you.” Read the full article