A posting on the AgencySpy blog said that ad executive Paul Tilley (left), “thought he could make it as a game show host. Doesn’t one need to be charming for that?”

TARGET OF ANONYMOUS SCORN
Visitors to AgencySpy and AdScam, two blogs written by advertising industry insiders, posted comments blaming the sites for contributing to the suicide late last month of Paul Tilley, 40, the creative director of DDB Chicago.

“We’re certainly used to criticism in the agency business,” said Nina DiSesa, chairwoman of McCann Erickson Worldwide’s New York division, who posted comments on AgencySpy.com in defense of Tilley, whom she called a friend. “But when blogs attack someone personally, without justification, and they do it anonymously, it’s just wrong.”

Tilley, who oversaw teams that created the “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign for McDonald’s and the “Dell Dude,” ads, apparently jumped from an upper floor of the Fairmont Chicago hotel on Feb. 22. The Cook County medical examiner ruled his death a suicide.

Gregory K. Brown, a specialist on suicide at the University of Pennsylvania, said that public humiliation could play a role in suicide because “hopelessness is often a major risk factor, and if you’ve been publicly humiliated and your reputation has been tarnished forever, you could see how someone could become hopeless.”

Tilley had come under particularly harsh criticism on the advertising blogs. AgencySpy, which is written by an anonymous advertising industry employee, was perhaps the most biting.

In a Feb. 19 posting, the site quoted an internal e-mail message Tilley had sent to subordinates, in which he wrote: “Too many of you are only doing good work. And some of you are doing work that simply isn’t good enough.”

AgencySpy wrote that Tilley “needs to go back to management 101.” The site then published 12 comments peppered with insults aimed at Tilley – among them an insult signed by George Parker, the author of the AdScam blog.

Advertising blogs have a reputation, even among bloggers, of being particularly wounding, Parker said. Since many agencies are now part of publicly held companies, he said, workers are under increasing pressure to show short-term results.?

***Agency Spy Ad Scam and George Parker should be held accountable for their defamation of Paul. I hope there is a push to file suit on behalf of Paul, perhaps to establish a fund for his children.

In college I was editor of the student newspaper at Black Hawk College in Moline, Illinois. We attended a journalism convention in St. Louis and I met the editors of many East Coast Ivy League schools. We were the smallest school represented at the conference. What I learned was that they were covering political and social issues as if they were mainstream media and I was not. I was told by my college advisors to only report on the cheerleaders and cafeteria menu additions and to stay away from what people really gave a shit about.

Even in High School, I covered Watergate from a very tongue-in-cheek Buchwaldian perspective and was awarded for that.

But not at the next school. The lesson was simple: You write what we tell you to write.

Censorship exists, at all levels. If your admin is right-wing, the reported coverage will bear that slant. Pure and simple. Say what you want about Fox. Same story.

But in advertising and PR the lesson is even more simple. We are paid to sell stuff. And that’s the deal. There is no lying. There is little deception. We work for people who pay us to make their products or services look attractive. It’s as straight a deal as one could find. We are not masquerading as barometers of social conscience or save-the-world journalism. We are sales facilitators.

Shills you say?

Well, that’s a matter of opinion. What do you call all the mainstream media who only report American casualties in wars and never the loss of life to the opposition? Are we being given the information by our supposedly “free press” to accurately gauge the human cost of a war? Where are the real photos from Iraq and Afghanistan?

In a mature market, people pretty much know that advertising is a sales exercise. When was the last time you walked into a used car dealership seeking truth and LSW counseling?

Never. And you know it.

Because you’re no dummy. And average America knows advertising is at best a sound-bite of entertainment in pursuit of a sale. Nothing more.

Honestly, I wish Journalism had the ethics of advertising: To openly disclose the source of those who put them up to the shenanigans they practice.

Dennis Ryan could have been that prince, but they let him get away. Mark Gross, while funny and somewhat talented, is not exactly a clear leader. What else has he done besides Bud Lt? One should have a depth of experience. It’s far harder to do an ad for a computer or insurance company than it is another frat boy beer ad. Real business challenges require an adroit mind.

So where does DDB go from here? I’m afraid to wonder. It’s going to be a long tough road, and a LOT of people will leave. Only time will heal this scar. Tilley destroyed far more than just he and his family’s life with that jump. He may have destroyed a legacy.

Good luck to the ones who have the strength to move on and do great things.

This is an industry blog, we talk about the people in our industry. If you’re a boss, you’re going to be talked about. If you’re a jerk you’re going to get called out. That’s the way it is.

Do you think Paul was the first person to be criticized? The first boss to be made fun of behind his back? I know it happens all the time. I’m sure people made fun of me and continue to make fun of me. It comes with the territory, because there’s always a certain degree of tension between labor and management. Some people might say that he ‘had to’ send out those stupid emails, but is that really true? Do you have to run a mediocre spot? Or do you do it when the cost benefit analysis says putting more in isn’t worth it? Perhaps Paul thought trying to be authentic wasn’t worth it and instead he channelled his inner stuffed shirt with those emails… well those on the receiving end didn’t like it and they let him know. That’s called life in the big city.

I personally doubt that you could say that these blog comments caused him to commit suicide. Mental illness caused him to commit suicide. Instead of wasting time attacking this blog people who care about Paul should advocate for better health care for the mentally ill, particularly for an end to discriminatory insurance company policies both in who they write policies for and how they cover expenses. Or you could try and take on big pharma for expending so much effort on me-too drugs or minor modifications to drugs to extend patent protection. Or (dare I say it) for overselling the benefits of anti-depressants. Or you could work to fight the stigma of mental illness.

Finally if all posters are losers and Nina is a poster does that make a loser and a douche?