I honor Rich Kohnke’s family’s grief. I am sorry for their loss. I too lost my father to a prolonged and painful death. Navigating grief is a long and painful process.
However, the public grieving of his death by the Milwaukee advertising community exemplifies the contrast between those who have the privilege to memorialize their loved ones — and those who do not.
The local advertising industry’s lack of understanding about its privilege is painful to see. This lack of understanding speaks volumes about the advertising community’s mind-numbing lack of awareness about its privilege — privilege which leaves so many behind.
In Milwaukee county alone 1,291 people have died of COVID (the third worse death rate in the country), most of them likley dying without family surrounding them and without a billboard to memorialize them.
Milwaukee’s advertising community has a dire lack of diversity. Black and Brown people simply are not granted access to our industry. The industry prioritizes access to those with connections and then lionize those who support and propagate this system.
The Milwaukee advertising has continued to perpetuate a boys’ club within its creative ranks. While, at the same time, few women have been invited into the c-suite, despite their swelling numbers within low and mid-level ranks. An honest assessment of the systems at play would speak volumes.
Still, despite its many flaws, advertising has the power to transform lives. These tone-deaf billboards missed the mark.
They are tone-deaf to the collective grief of a city, where many more Black and Brown fathers died — too often alone. This is unimaginable to me.
They are tone-deaf to the privilege that Rich represented, even acknowledging of his creative gifts. This is completely understandable to me.
Milwaukee’s ad community got it wrong. They missed the moment to truly honor Rich Kohnke. This does not surprise me.
Jean Grow