Investment management service Wealthsimple is "pressing the hot-button issue of pay equity" in its latest ad campaign featuring WNBA Dallas Wings G Skylar Diggins-Smith, according to Vipal Monga of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. A new online spot "compares the accomplishments of a fictional, young male basketball player with those of an actress playing" a young Diggins-Smith. The "litany of parallel feats -- being named to their All-American teams, playing in their respective college tournaments’ Final Four, going first-round in their pro leagues’ drafts -- culminates in the male player earning a rookie salary" of $4M. The girl "looks into the camera and says, 'My rookie contract will be $40,000.'" Wealthsimple in August "published an installment of its 'Money Diaries' series," in which Diggins-Smith "called for narrowing the pay gap between the NBA and the WNBA." More marketers are "exploring controversy, as research suggests that consumers demand social and political engagement from the brands they use." Wealthsimple’s advertising department has "long tried to prompt uncomfortable conversations about money" (WSJ.com, 10/30).
