Hasta La Creative!

The tables have turned on Fearless Girl. The bronze statue that captured America’s attention and a plethora of ad awards is now at the center of a controversy over the very practices she stands defiantly against. State Street Corp., the parent of the company that erected Fearless Girl, is settling with the U.S. Labor Department over allegations that it paid hundreds of female and black executives less than their male and white counterparts.

The seeming hypocrisy has news outlets buzzing and social media wags are having a field day. But ad industry insiders say that while this will test how fearless ‘Fearless Girl’ really is, she will likely escape untarnished.

“Great creative ideas mean taking risks, but sometimes you have to shoot the messenger to get the message right,” says Lisen Stromberg, chief operating officer of the 3% Conference. “State Street and its agency, McCann, took a risk to challenge the status quo with Fearless Girl. Now she is a symbol that goes well beyond either of them.” Stromberg adds that “fearless girls won” with the Labor Department settlement.

Continue reading at AdAge.com