Cheni Vega

When I went to graduate school to study advertising, one of my good friends was in the Air Force. She spoke the same language the rest of us did, used the same words – "campaign", "strategy", "tactics", and so on. – but it all sounded a bit different coming from her. More…real. Which shouldn't be a surprise, I suppose; as far as I recall, she was the only veteran in the building. That wouldn't have been the case in the "Mad Men" era, when much of today's "agency speak" was born. While the...

When we look for trends to watch in any given year, it helps to think of them in the context of mega-trends – long-term cultural questions that don't resolve one way or the other. These are topics like whether brands should take stands on cultural or political issues, how increasing consumer savviness conflicts with motivated ignorance, or how the ability to target increasingly fine-tuned groups of people exists in a world where any statement or campaign is accessible to the entire...

The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. At this time, the LGBTQ community was often subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and was widely denied protection against discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City. The bar's patrons – including...