因为在公开场合发表了性别歧视的言论，公关广告界的大师级人物尼尔·弗伦奇最近不得不引咎辞职。

    据美联社10月22日报道，美国第二大公关公司WPP Group PLC日前宣布，公司接到了旗下资深创意专家尼尔·弗伦奇的辞职报告。据该公司内部人士透露，10月6日在加拿大多伦多召开的产业讨论大会上，弗伦奇发表的“傲慢评论”是导致他辞职的主要原因。据悉，弗伦奇在会议上公开表示，妇女在工作岗位上很难达到高层地位的原因是她们的“多嘴多舌”。另外，据加拿大Ogilvy & Mather公司创意部门负责人南西·沃尔克透露，弗兰克还将妇女描述为“不可避免会临阵脱逃的一群人”。

    弗伦奇的激烈言词引起了广告产业内女性工作者的极大不满。沃尔克在广告产业大会网站上表示，“领导层的发言让女性工作者感到十分心痛，如果那些高层领导是在利用大会的机会向我们暗示：女性工作者仅仅是位于无足轻重的地位，那么公司士气无疑会遭受极大的打击。”

    弗伦奇在广告产业内的影响力并不算小。这位现年61岁的老人一直以口含雪茄的形象出现在公众面前。在弗伦奇的一生中，他曾经从事过收债人、斗牛士教练以及重金属乐队经纪等多种职业，并且最终选择了能够完全发挥创意能力的广告界。弗伦奇的许多作品都被视为经典中的经典。

    在事件发生之后，弗伦奇曾解释说：“女性工作者很难成为一位真正意义上的创意大师，因为她们要为照料孩子等家庭事务所拖累。”

    One of the world's most flamboyant advertising gurus has left his job after reportedly telling an audience that women made poor executives because motherhood made them "wimp out."

    Marketing giant WPP Group PLC said Friday it had accepted the resignation of Neil French - a one-time debt collector, trainee matador and rock-band agent who served as the group's worldwide creative director.

    The firm, which is based in London and New York, told Britain's Press Association news agency that French had offered his resignation, and it had been accepted. WPP could not immediately be reached for comment by The Associated Press.

    French made the contentious remarks during an industry discussion in Toronto on Oct. 6. According to a report in the city's Globe and Mail newspaper, French said women did not make it to the top because "they're crap."

    Nancy Vonk, a Toronto-based creative director at WPP subsidiary Ogilvy & Mather who attended the event, said French described women as "a group that will inevitably wimp out and go 'suckle something.'"

    The comments sparked outrage among many women in the advertising industry. Vonk wrote on the advertising industry Web site http://www.ihaveanidea.org — sponsor of the Oct. 6 event — that "my jaded jaw hit the floor" at French's comments.

    "If our greatest leaders are busy quietly persuading girls they're just not cut out for this gig, how far is this group going to get - the brave ones who soldier on in spite of the discouragement?" she wrote.

    British-born French, 61, known for his ever-present cigar, worked as a debt collector, trained as a matador and was agent to the heavy metal band Judas Priest before going into advertising.

    He was among a generation of innovative admen — including future film director Ridley Scott and brothers Maurice and Charles Saatchi — who made a mark on British advertising in the 1970s and 80s.

    Many of French's print ads are considered classics. One of the most famous shows a bottle of Chivas Regal whisky without a label, and the tag line, "If you don't recognize it, you're probably not ready for it."

    Singapore-based French - who during the Toronto event was served drinks onstage by a woman in a French maid's uniform - was unrepentant.

    In an interview with the Globe and Mail published Friday, French said there were few female creative directors "because you can't commit yourself to the job."

    "You can't be a great creative director and have a baby and keep spending time off every time your kids are ill," he was quoted as saying.