New Delhi: Publicis India has sacked executive creative director Ishrath Nawaz, who has been called out for sexual misconduct under the ongoing #MeToo movement.
In a statement issued on micro-blogging platform Twitter on Friday, the agency said: “The investigation in relation to Mr Ishrath Nawaz has been concluded. Mr Nawaz’s conduct has been found to be violative of Publicis India’s policy. Consequently, Mr Ishrath Nawaz’s services have been terminated.”
Nawaz, who joined Publicis in April last year, was called out by multiple women for sexual misconduct on social media platforms. He joined the agency from McCann Worldwide and had previously worked with agencies such as Soho Square, Saatchi & Saatchi, FCB Ulka and Rediffusion Y&R.
Publicis’ decision to sack Nawaz comes a day after Dentsu Aegis Network, one of India’s biggest advertising agencies, sacked four of its employees after concluding a week-long internal investigation on allegations of sexual misconduct by multiple women.
Dentsu on Thursday said its creative marketing agency Happy Creative Services’ chief executive Kartik Iyer and managing director Praveen Das have stepped down from their respective positions after being called out by multiple women for sexual harassment.
Bodhisatwa Dasgupta, senior creative director at Happy Creative Services, and Dinesh Swamy, national creative director, iProspect India, have also been asked to quit in the wake of multiple sexual harassment allegations under the ongoing #MeToo movement.
The agency, after a week-long internal investigation, found the charges true.
“Dentsu Aegis Network has always believed in providing a safe environment at our workplaces, free from any kind of harassment. We have a zero tolerance policy towards any kind of harassment at our workplaces,” the agency said. The company has an internal complaints committee (ICC), as well as Dentsu Aegis’s Women Council, in place.
The #MeToo wave hit the advertising industry in India about a week ago with many women calling out top executives, as well as other employees, of multiple agencies, including Dentsu Aegis Network, Publicis India, DDB Mudra and Creativeland Asia. All the agencies have ordered investigations against the perpetrators. DDB Mudra said it was looking into the allegations made against three employees, including chief creative technologist Brijesh Jacob and its digital agency 22feet Tribal Worldwide’s chief executive officer Deepak Nair and senior photographer Aniruddha Das.
Investigation is also underway at independent advertising agencies such as Creativeland Asia, Utoepia Communications and Famous Innovations.
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