Salvation Army Cuts Ties With Richards Group Over Racist Remark

(Bloomberg) -- The Salvation Army became the latest client to end its relationship with the Richards Group after the ad agency’s founder, Stan Richards, was reported making a racist remark about a proposed Motel 6 ad campaign.

“The Salvation Army has determined that it will sever its relationship with the Richards Group,” the Christian charitable organization said in an emailed statement. “The statements made by Mr. Stan Richards are hurtful to everyone and in complete conflict with the fulfillment of our mission to meet human needs in Christ’s name without discrimination.”

Richard Group had developed the Salvation Army slogan “Doing the Most Good.”

Earlier this week, companies including Home Depot Inc. and Motel 6 also broke ties with the agency. According to Ad Age, the 87-year-old founder said a proposed ad for Motel 6 was “too Black” and wouldn’t resonate with the chain’s “significant White supremacist constituents.” The incident took place last week during an internal meeting, the motel chain said.

This year, U.S. companies have become more vocal about not tolerating racism in the workplace in response to nationwide protests calling for progress on race-related inequality.

The agency has apologized, with creative director Glenn Dady saying on Wednesday that the brand “has been tarnished.” Ad Age reported that Richards apologized for the remark on an agency-wide Zoom call.

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