A Sydney advertising agency has had to apologise after allegedly telling a woman she was “too brown” and that clients would be alarmed to have “three brown skin people attend a meeting”.
Surungi Emily Hohol took to Facebook to vent her feelings after she attended an interview for Banjo, a creative advertising company.
Ms. Hohol wrote: “Yesterday I had an interview at a creative ad agency in Sydney and was told that due to being brown and Indian (though I’m Sri Lankan) and have lived in Australia for 27 years. I wouldn’t be suitable for the role as they already had two other Indian people.”
“Direct quote ‘the client might be alarmed by having three brown skin people attend a meeting’ seriously what is wrong with people.”
The Daily Telegraph has reported that Banjo are meeting with the woman today in a bid to control damage being done on social media.
The company has since released a statement apologising for the comments and maintained they were just a “misunderstanding”
“In the course of expanding the account management team at Banjo, an unfortunate misunderstanding has occurred during an interview with a candidate, for which Banjo would like to offer an unreserved apology,” said Banjo CEO Andrew Varasdi.
The agency maintains that the executive’s “casual” comment was taken out of context by Ms Hohol, who was in fact being strongly considered for the position.
“The senior staff member who conducted what was a very positive interview, made a casual remark at the end of the interview, which was intended to set the person at ease. Unfortunately it was taken out of context and has since gained some notoriety on social media.
“Needless to say, the Banjo staff member is deeply upset by the incident, which occurred yesterday. There has been a lot of media attention on the issue of equality – including race, gender and sexual orientation, and age – in recent times and we acknowledge that emotions can run high.”
