A truly amateur night at the Apollo

So let’s talk about the train wreck that was last night’s Advertising Week’s Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater. I assumed, as did many in the ad industry, that Advertising Week had reserved the famed stage for a contest among advertising executives—and only advertising executives. Sadly, that was not the case. Not only did last night’s industry performers “compete” amidst genuine Apollo amateurs—Billie Holliday, James Brown and more recently Lauryn Hill got their starts there—but they were on stage next to the contests’ “Top Dogs,” who are amateurs that had already won two Apollo contests.