UPDATED: Did Muse Or AMC Pull ‘White Space’ Ad During ‘The Pitch’? Sources Say PR Stunt.

At first I felt like some of the comments here were apalling, and then thought I suppose it should come as no shock that people will cast stones from afar. I have to say that if you don't find it admirable that Jo Muse continues to stand for what he believes in and call out the lack of diversity in the ad industry, you're either naive or condone it. Not easy to take the less popular path of standing up and speaking out. Fortunately, people like Dr.King, Malcom X, JFK, Johnnie Cochran and Jo Muse do, even when it is not the most popular opinion. Fortunately, they are not controlled by what people think or say, or anonymously contribute in a blog comment, but call it like they see it, and demand attention to the issues. As for doing it for the money....ha! If Jo Muse was all about the money, he wouldn't have gone into the business of multicultural advertising and stuck it out for the 25 plus years he's been doing it. Check the scoreboard folks, the facts are the facts as it relates to diversity in the ad game. You can pretend to ignore them if you want. That's not new. And, as for the contributor who decided to anonymously use the "N" word, I suppose you're suggesting that there is an acceptable circumstance in which you can use that word. Sounds like what they told us back in the 60's. All I'm saying is take a minute and think about it.

I bet they are regretting doing the publicity for The Pitch now. The minute you put your head above the ground, someone's always gonna wanna hit it. This time I do think it was deserved though after seeing that episode. Bozell earned that campaign and glad they won.

As someone who's dealt with them, he is much worse than he appeared on The Pitch. just a disgusting vile human being and i'm glad people are finally seeing Jo for what he is

as a former supporter of Muse Communications, they have lost a major one. I was revolted by Jo Muse on The Pitch and he just got sleazier by the minute. Marcus should work with Bozell to form a diversity campaign since he actually understands what's needed.

what a major letdown! its no wonder why people are so jaded and distrustful since once again someone talks about fighting diversity and racism just winds up trying to make a dollar off our backs. racism has gotten so much worse in our country and Jo Muse just helps to fan the flames. let the real people who car about diversity actually do the fighting since you're just a money grubbing nigger. yup, I said it. I'm black and you're the type of nigger that makes rednecks feel better for being racist.

jo muse just typifies the advertising huckster person stereotype. he's no don draper that's for sure. don draper has some redeeming qualities at least, not this guy.

i didn't want to say it but jo read just like one. he's definitely not the face or mouth you want on the diversity movement since his idea of diversity seems to be just for him to make a buck off it.

I cringe when I hear or see that word, but yes Jo Muse came across exactly like that. I watched that episode with my dad (we live in North Carolina, enough said) and right after that vanilla comment he said exactly what I knew he would.

sadly, he's exactly what my racist grandfather would call a nigger.

Jo my brotha, you are quite the liability. As someone who is in advertising, you should have know better and been on your toes with that mouth. With all the publicity you did before the show aired about pushing diversity and crying foul on the ad agencies, you should have remembered those stupid arrogant comments you made. I think you defeated your own movement not to mention future African American clients like myself. I'd rather work with an all white agency who really walked the walk rather than an all African American one that can't even talk. So my brother Jo, please script yourself better for all of our own good.

Jo Muse = pushing the diversity movement way back in the closet! you could even see the president of Muse looking irritated when he called in after the pitch meeting saying he'd done his best. the guy barely said a word and just acted like the diabetes people should be thankful he even showed up. those of us in the Midwest are a lot smarter with much better values than those espoused by Jo Muse. that's the type of person who forgets the buying power the Midwest has. it's more than just a flyover area of the US.

Epic fail!!!!!!! an ad agency for diversity that winds up looking just as bad as what they say the problem is. they couldn't even get more than a few thousand hits for their video after running to the press like they obviously did. I will say after reading the interview with the president of Muse, I thought these guys have it going on. but then the episode aired and Jo Muse just came across as a poor man's Don King. as part of the black community, I vote to send this guy way off the island. he should let Marcus do more of the speaking since at least he's smart enough to know what not to say.

Evelyn, you're right about that and as we all know it's what you say that can totally undermine your message. I've seen people working for a cause doing great things but say one thing wrong and the community turns on them so if you're going to be a spokesperson for a cause...learn how to speak

As a fellow black American, I would much rather not have Jo Muse or Muse Communications speaking on my behalf for diversity. Sadly, those 'vanilla' folk at Bozell could probably do it much better than Jo Muse. He is one of the reasons why we can't get further in race relations in this country. He came across as a total sellout for the cause with a big sense of 'kiss my ring' for I am the urban king. This king needs some dethroning!

And that's the problem. when the owner of an ad agency winds up being his own pr nightmare, it makes you wonder what he was thinking. just his attitude at the initial meeting was one of entitlement and that just turned me off. he was looking at the Bozell people like they were rednecks from Middle America and his comments were just stupid. If they had said anything like that, Jo Muse seems like that kind of guy that would go on a tear crying racism and lack of diversity. I think the lack of diversity at Muse Communications is people who actually practise what they preach. And for an ad agency specializing in brand promotion, I am shocked that they only focused on a few areas of the US. They think diversity is only needed in four cities??? I don't see them getting much confidence from future advertisers the way they bungled their diversity spiel.

The commercial was shown at 11 pm in California, but not the 8 pm showing on HDTV. The commercial was relevant, but unfortunately, it lost some effectiveness because some viewers of The Pitch focused on comments of Jo Muse instead of how Muse approached the assignment. I thought both Bozell & Muse did a great job! JDRF felt that Bozell's campaign was a better fit for the message they wanted to convey. I love The Pitch. It gives people like myself, insight on the advertising world. This is one reality show I look forward to watching!

Yup, I was rooting for Muse too until Jo made his little vanilla comment and just eradicated everything he claims he's fighting for. He just seems like another huckster looking for a way to play his 'race card' to make a buck off people who have truly been fighting for diversity. it's disgusting people like this that will keep the fight for diversity on the back burner.

I was turned off by Jo Muse for talking so righteously about race relations, diversity and then turning around and say the meeting was very 'vanilla'. You can be assured if one of the white men had said the meeting had a 'chocolate' sprinkle, he'd have been jumping up and down pointing the finger. If you're going to preach diversity and 'opening peoples eyes', don't be doing the exact things you're railing against. I agree, the ad has a good message, but after seeing Mr Muse speak it negates it. I live in LA and I too did not see this run. It does make you wonder since so many people in the 'places' they claim they ran the ad didn't see it. And I don't think all those people have DirectTV. I guess next that Aireka will be saying you needed a special Ham radio tv to be able to see it next. This company just looks like another Don King type organization trying to make a bug off an opportunity that much better people are fighting for with integrity.

obviously you didn't real the entire thing since it was updated and they put in that it aired. i do find it weird that I live in NYC and DVR'd the show and no ad showed up. funny that now they're saying it aired, but not here and here and here. muse was unimpressive on The Pitch and this comment from another 'Muse' just makes them look way out of their element in advertising...and PR. I can't believe they didn't just do a full national run since ad rates on The Pitch are crazy low with their awful ratings. the way Muse sound in the press, it was a full run ad and not just spot marketing. if you're looking for diversity, it exists in more than just 4 markets.

White Space was not a publicity stunt. The spot aired on the 4 different markets you listed but it also did not air on DirectTV. Unfortunately, as many people we would like did not see it but it was far from a cheap publicity stunt and a piece of work we wanted to share and continue the dialogue about diversity.