After Coronavirus Tweets, Tom Goodwin Is Out at Publicis Groupe
He was head of futures and insight at the agency
Publicis Groupe has parted ways with Tom Goodwin, who was appointed head of futures and insight at the beginning of the year.
The move follows backlash on Twitter last weekend after Goodwin shared some controversial takes about the coronavirus pandemic, including a clash with R/GA U.S. chief strategy officer Tom Morton.
“Since the beginning of this pandemic, Publicis Groupe has taken decisions and actions led by the principles of unity, empathy and humanity despite the collective hardships,” a Publicis Groupe representative said in a statement. “These posts and exchanges by Tom Goodwin this week on social media do not meet the standard of conduct we expect of our company’s employees and were not aligned with our values. Publicis and Tom have parted ways.”
Adweek has reached out to Goodwin for comment but has yet to receive a response.
Prior to being named Publicis Groupe’s head of futures and insight, Goodwin spent about three-and-a-half years with Publicis Groupe’s Zenith Media as evp and head of innovation. Goodwin is also the author of Digital Darwinism.
Goodwin’s departure isn’t the first time Publicis Groupe has parted ways with an employee following controversial or offensive social media commentary. In June, Publicis Media data analyst Stephanie Camello was fired after tweeting offensive remarks about Black Lives Matter protests in Los Angeles.
Publicis Groupe reported a 13% decline in organic growth for Q2 last month, which CEO Arthur Sadoun said showed that the holding company had “strong fundamentals to weather the crisis.”
