Dan Gilbert, founder of Quicken Loans Inc. and Bedrock Detroit, ended a promotional ad campaign after a controversial graphic depicted only white residents.
Bedrock is the largest real estate company in Detroit, and the “See Detroit As We Do” ad campaign featured posters printed with a photo of a group of white residents laughing and talking together. The campaign did not last long, however, after Gilbert realized that the graphic did not include any African Americans.
“We screwed up badly the graphic package that was partially installed on the retail windows of the first floor of the Vinton Building,” Gilbert said in a lengthy Facebook post.
Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock appears to believe Detroit, which is 80% black, is all white. A member of @MayorMikeDuggan‘s admin defended the ad. pic.twitter.com/KNmuRglgrm
— Motor City Muckraker (@MCmuckraker) July 23, 2017
“Who cares how ‘we see Detroit,'” Gilbert wrote. “[The slogan was] in poor taste and does not reflect a single value or philosophy that we stand for at Bedrock Development or in our entire Family of companies. We became the City’s largest employer of Detroiters because diversity and inclusion are core fundamental values to our entire mission of helping to grow Detroit’s population, driving job growth, and increasing economic opportunity for all.”
Included in the lengthy Facebook post are pictures of what the finished product was supposed to look like. Despite the intended images depicting the company’s beliefs, Gilbert said that they have “tabled this particular campaign and will take the feedback and lessons learned here to even further examine our content, processes and even installation schedules to improve in all that we do.”
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