Friday, October 16, 2020
Solemn and serious, Stan Richards, the soon-to-be-88-year-old founder of the acclaimed Dallas advertising and marketing firm that bears his name prepared in solitude for the most emotionally fraught staff meeting of his lengthy career, says The Dallas Morning News.
“I am firing myself” was the message Richards delivered to the company’s 650 employees via Zoom on Thursday afternoon.
According to The Dallas Morning News, the move “was Richards’ attempt to stop a week of bleeding and internal turmoil caused by his racially insensitive remarks, which cost the Richards Group half a dozen big-name clients in a rapid-fire couple of days.
““If this was a publicly held company, I’d be fired for the comments I made,” he said. “But we’re not public, so I am firing myself. Our employees, first and foremost, deserve that.”
“The controversy erupted this week over Richards’ description of a Motel 6 campaign concept as being “too Black” for the Carrollton-based motel chain’s “white supremacist constituents.” His remarks came during an internal meeting over an idea to celebrate black artists in a Motel 6 campaign.
“The motel operator promptly fired Richards’ firm after his comments were publicized. Motel 6's iconic “We’ll leave the light on for you” slogan in 1986 is what propelled Richards’ company into the largest independently owned agency in the country.
“In the following 48 hours, home improvement giant Home Depot, beverage company Keurig Dr Pepper, grocery store chain H-E-B, pest control firm Orkin and auto parts retailer Advance Auto Parts all severed ties with the Richards Group.”