‘Mad Men, Furious Women’: Viral blog post sparks talk of advertising industry’s #MeToo moment

Sign up for the Independent Women email for the latest news, opinion and features Get the Independent Women email for free Get the Independent Women email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A viral blogpost detailing allegations of sexual misconduct in the advertising industry has sparked what is being referred to as the sector’s “#MeToo moment”. Ms Scaman also includes allegations from other women in her piece, which include stories from pregnant women who have been made redundant, and one woman who claims a senior producer once refused to let her into the bathroom unless she “let him snort a line off breasts”. “There are real, horrific and painful reasons why women in this industry are angry, broken, exhausted and often scared into silence.” Ms Scaman says that she has received hundreds of messages from women. “Instead it has morphed and evolved into something insidious; no longer overt and no longer a common occurrence carried out in public for all to see.” She went on to explain how these allegations are often “moved behind the curtain” so that they continue and points to a 2018 survey by TimeTo, the ad industry body set up in the wake of #MeToo, which found that 41 per cent of respondents had experienced sexual harassment and/or assault at work.