CANNES, France—Elon Musk’s dialog with WPP CEO Mark Learn on the Cannes Lions Competition this week didn’t simply draw a crowd, however frustrations from company staffers as nicely.
After skipping Cannes final 12 months, Musk attended the competition and addressed his “Go fuck your self” remark to advertisers after they started pulling out of X, previously Twitter, for fears of advertisements displaying up subsequent to unsafe and hateful content material, content material typically amplified by Musk himself.
Learn invited Musk to affix him on the Cannes stage to deal with these feedback and the present state of brand name security on the X platform. Following the speak, Musk traveled to Stagwell Sport Seaside for a personal assembly with a few of Stagwell’s purchasers hosted by CEO Mark Penn.
A number of sources inside WPP expressed frustrations to ADWEEK over Learn inviting Musk to Cannes, who has a historical past of amplifying anti-trans feedback on X, particularly throughout Delight Month.
One WPP worker who requested anonymity informed ADWEEK that staff are “shocked by the poor judgment of the holding firm” and known as it “frankly insulting to our companies and our staff.”
Chatting with ADWEEK right this moment, Learn and Penn each stick by their choices to ask, interview and meet with Musk at Cannes.
Inviting Musk to the principle stage
Final week, the Cannes Lions Competition revealed that Musk would be part of Learn in a dialog on the Palais about innovation.
Learn informed ADWEEK that he considered the dialog as “a very good alternative for us to listen to straight from him, get his ideas and why he made the statements that he’s made.”
“We considered all the pieces to do with him talking,” mentioned Learn on whether or not the workforce mentioned the implications of bringing Musk to Cannes to WPP’s LGBTQ+ staff. “As I mentioned initially, I don’t agree with all the pieces he’s shared on each matter. I made that clear at first of the speak. And we talked about among the issues that he mentioned prior to now.”
Learn declined to reply whether or not LJ Louis, WPP’s world chief expertise and inclusion officer, was consulted on the choice to deliver Musk to Cannes.
“As I mentioned, I didn’t agree with all the pieces,” mentioned Learn. “I disagree with many issues Elon mentioned on many subjects. We had an opportunity to ask him about them and the tweets that he’s mentioned that he’s regretted.”
Personal assembly on Sport Seaside
When Penn heard that Musk was attending Cannes, he thought purchasers would have questions and need to handle Musk face-to-face in a closed assembly.
