Name: Broad Strokes for April 7, 2017: Kendall Jenner's Pepsi Ad and Bill O'Reilly's Harassment Scandal
Uploaded: 2019-12-12
Duration: 4 min 2 s
Description: We're tackling the latest installment of the Fox News saga, Equal Pay Day, and PepsiCo's controversial ad featuring Kendall Jenner.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to Broad Strokes, Fortune show where we talk about the news that matters to women. So Fox News is back in the headlines. The New York Times did an investigation that found that the network and Bill O'Reilly had settled with five women, who'd accused him of sexual harassment to the tune of about $13 million. And there has been a pushback from sponsors on this who are leaving his show and pulling their ads. Yeah. I think it's about like 40 plus advertisers have left the show right now. And it's not just advertisers that are having an issue with what's going on at Fox. The legal community, too, has kind of come out and said 21st Century Fox, which is the parent company of Fox News, should have disclosed these $13 million to investors. I mean, had you disclosed this to investors, they would be probably in a much better situation. And so, I think that between being able to hide these sorts of expenditures between arbitration clauses. I mean, these are just huge, legal barriers to women coming forward sexual harassment claims. Yeah. I think another barrier is the fact that our President has actually commented on this. He said, you know, I think Bill O'Reilly is a great guy. I don't think he should have settled this. So, I mean, he is effectively calling these women liars by saying this. And I think if you are a woman who is in a position where you're being harassed at work and you're afraid to come forward because you think you might not be believed, like that's exactly the message that you're being sent right now. Yeah. I mean, we talked a lot last week about culture, and whether you can change your culture, and how to change your culture. Standing by somebody like Bill O'Reilly, which Fox News is doing right now, is definitely not the way to go. I mean, I think that so much has to happen for us to be able to change a culture at companies like Fox. Another big piece of news this week was equal pay days. So this year, it took place on April 4th. And April 4th is a day in 2017 until which the average American woman would have to work to earn as much as an American man did in 2016. This is a very kind of specific, targeted holiday. It's not quite as broad and as flashy as International Women's Day was. But I also think that perhaps, being so focused is actually a positive thing. Yeah. I mean, I think we see the importance of this holiday and the stories that you saw from people calling the wage gap a myth. There are still people out there that don't believe that this is a problem for women. And what I thought was particularly interesting is this year I saw a bunch of stories that weren't just like, this is how large the pay gap is. This is what caused it. It was here are practical tips you can use to close your own personal pay gap to ask for more money. Or if you are an employer, or a manager, to make sure that you're not perpetuating this and paying your employees differently. So the final topic I think we should talk about today is the Pepsi ad. [MUSIC PLAYING] I mean, the protesters weren't actually protesting anything. They were holding up signs that said peace, and join the conversation. But like, what conversation? It was not clear. It just kind of whitewashed and just glossed over kind of the importance of political protest. It made them look fun, and easy, and lighthearted, and not violent. And generally just offended so many people in so many different levels for that reason. Yeah. I mean, one specific critique was that they were co-opting some of the images from Black Lives Matter. Martin Luther King's daughter actually tweeted that had her dad handed the police officer a Pepsi, that probably would not have solved the problem. I think there are companies that have made ads that take a political stance, and have done it well. I mean, this was a huge trend during the Super Bowl ads. And one thing I feel like that helps with that is, if you take a stand in your ad, and then have an initiative that's tied to it. I mean, we've seen this from companies like Unilever, P&G, L'oreal, where they'll partner with NGOs to actually work on the cause that they're also using to sell their products. Unfortunately that's all the time we have for Broad Strokes this week. Come back next Friday for another episode on fortune.com. [MUSIC PLAYING] 

Broad Strokes for April 7, 2017: Kendall Jenner's Pepsi Ad and Bill O'Reilly's Harassment Scandal

Politics

We're tackling the latest installment of the Fox News saga, Equal Pay Day, and PepsiCo's controversial ad featuring Kendall Jenner.

Welcome to broad strokes. Fortune show. We talk about the news that matters to women. Uh, Fox News is back in the headlines The New York Times, an investigation that founded the network, and Bill O'Reilly had settled with five women who'd accused him of sexual harassment to the tune of about $13 million. And there have been a pushback from sponsors on this who are leaving his show and pulling their ads. Yeah, I think about like 40 plus advertisers have left the show right now, and it's not just advertisers that air, you know, having an issue with what's going on a fox, the legal community to have kind of come out and said 21st Century Fox, which is the parent company of Fox News, should have disclosed these $13 million to investors. I mean, how do you disclose your investors? They would be probably in a much better situation. Um, and so I think that, you know, between, you know, being able to hide the source of expenditures between arbitration clauses. I mean, these air just huge legal barriers toe women coming forward, sexual hostin clean. Yeah, I think another barrier is the fact that our president has actually commented on this, He said. You know, I think they'll arrive is a great guy. I don't think he should have settled this. So, you know, I mean, he is effectively calling these women liars by saying this. And I think if you are a woman who is in a position where you're being harassed at work and you're afraid to come forward because you think you might not be believed like, that's exactly the message that you're being right now. Yeah. I mean, we talked a lot last week about culture, and, you know, whether you can change our culture and how to change a culture, you know, standing by somebody like Bill O'Reilly, which Fox News is doing right now is definitely not the way to go. I mean, I think that so much has to happen for us to be able to change the culture that companies like Fox. So another big piece of news this week with equal payday. So this year it took place on April 4th and April 4th is a day in 2017 until which the average American woman would have to work to earn as much as an American man did in 2016. This is a very, you know, kind of specific targeted holiday. It's not quite as broad and as flashy as International Women's Day was. But I also think that perhaps, you know, being so focused is actually a positive thing. Yeah, I mean, I think we see the importance of this holiday in the stories that you saw from people calling the wage gap on this. There are still people out there that don't believe that this is a problem for women. And what I thought was particularly interesting is this. Here I saw a bunch of stories that weren't just like, you know, this is how large the pay gap is. This is what caused that it was. You know, here are practical tips you can use to close your own personal peg after after more money, or, if you are, you know, an employer, a manager to make sure that you're not perpetuating this and paying your employees differently. So the final topic I think we should talk about today is the Pepsi AB. I mean, the protesters weren't actually processing anything. They're holding up signs that said peace and join the conversation. But like what? Conversation? It was not clear. It just kind of, you know, whitewashed and just glossed over kind of the importance of political protest. It made them look fun and easy and light hearted and not violent and, like, just just generally just offended so many people in so many different levels. For that reason, yeah. I mean, one specific critique was that they were co opting some of the images from black lives matter. Martin Luther King's daughter actually tweeted that, you know, had her dad handed the police officer a Pepsi probably would not have solved the problem. I think there are companies that have made add to take a political stance and have done it well, you know, I mean, this was a huge rendering the Super Bowl ad, Uh, and one thing I feel like it helped with that is if you take a stand, your ad and then have an initiative that's tied to it. I mean, we've seen this from companies like Unilever, PNG, Loreal, were there partner with NGOs, actually, you know, work on the cause that they're also you think, to sell their products. Unfortunately, that all the time we have for broad strokes with weak. Come back next Friday for another episode on fortune dot com.