Motel 6, Home Depot Cut Ties With The Richard Group After ‘Too Black’ Comment

Motel 6 has severed ties with its advertising firm after the founder called its latest ad pitch “too Black” for the motel’s “white supremacist audience,” AdAge first reported.

Motel 6 said it parted way with the ad agency after reports of comments made by founder Stan Richards were made during an internal meeting, The Dallas Morning News said.

In a statement to the news outlet, a Motel 6 spokesman said: “We are outraged by the statements made about Motel 6 and our customers by a member of The Richards Group during one of its internal meetings. The comments were not only completely inaccurate, they are also in direct opposition of our values and beliefs as an organization.

“Upon learning of these comments, we terminated our relationship with The Richards Group, effective immediately. We are a company [that] embraces diversity of all forms and have a zero-tolerance policy for hateful comments of any kind, whether that be within our organization, at third party vendors or at our properties. We will continue to work every day to ensure every one of our guests and employees is treated with the utmost respect.”

Joining Motel 6 in dropping The Richards Group is Home Depot, who told the Dallas Morning News that it had “immediately begun the process of finding a new advertising agency.”

The Richards Group customers also include Dodge Ram pickup trucks, Duke’s mayonnaise, the Salvation Army, and Hobby Lobby.

The Richards Group issued a statement from its founder, which was obtained by the news outlet, that read: “Last week, we were reviewing creative for what was to be a multicultural campaign for one of our clients. Two of our creatives, both white, presented a direction I thought was not multiculturally inclusive enough, I misspoke and commented using words I greatly regret, including three I never should have said: ‘It’s too black.’ ”

“To be clear, though, I have never used racial slurs about any ethnic group nor tolerated it from anyone around me. Those words were said innocently, but they were hurtful to members of our staff. I have apologized for that, as I should have. Having spent much of my adult life fighting prejudice, I should have known better.”

The ad firm, The Richards Group, has been linked to Motel 6 for more than 30 years. It developed the company’s “We’ll leave the light on for you” slogan.