For years I have read the results of polls placing advertising people and lawyers at the bottom of the image totem poll. It seems like American’s think ad people are not trustworthy and therefore hold us in low esteem.

Well, I’m here to tell you that we may remain low in the esteem polls moving forward, but we are not draining the economy the way some industries are. I haven’t heard about any bailouts of Interpublic or Omnicom, have you?  And if ad agencies and agency holding companies were managed like Bank of America, GM or Chrysler, I haven’t read about it. Who says agency people are too creative to be good business people?

I am proud to be in advertising. Yeah, we tell off color jokes. We may index high for drinking and smoking. Our music may not be mainstream and our shoes are expensive, but by God, we know about business. And as an industry we know how to pay bills and stay on the right side of the ledger. Be proud ad wo|men. Be proud. As my Norwegian grandfather might have said “Poles. What do they know!" Or was that “polls?” Peace!