The ‘Mad Men’ Era Is Long Over. Why Is Advertising Still So White?

Last summer, KFC ran advertisements in Canada featuring Black people eating fried chicken and licking their fingers, their faces reflected in unused silverware.

Critics called the images racist, but the campaign was not canceled. Instead, it was submitted this spring for a prestigious industry award in New York.

Nate Nichols, the founder and creative director of Palette Group, a creative agency in Brooklyn, was one of the few Black members of the panel of judges reviewing submissions.

“My genuine response is sadness,” Mr. Nichols said. “It just means not enough of us have been able to make it into the room.”

The ad did not win, and KFC Global did not respond to requests for comment. But the episode was emblematic of a multibillion-dollar advertising industry that in at least one way still resembles the “Mad Men” era of the 1960s — namely, its lack of racial diversity.

That dearth, according to a new report, is keenly evident in New York City, the heart of the industry and also the largest advertising market in the United States. The disconnect could be costly at a time when shifts in media consumption favor younger, more diverse audiences.