Innocean Australia in partnership with FckTheCupcakes has launched a new pilot research study, the ‘Cost of Quiet Audit’. Coinciding with IWD and the 2026 release of WGEA data, the study is designed to investigate a perceived regression in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts and a rising sentiment of psychological unsafety within corporate Australia, starting with the Advertising and Marketing industry.
The launch comes amid a widespread feeling that the “DEI bubble” has burst in many corporate sectors in 2026. This has been observed through a global reduction in corporate DEI funding, the closing of corporate DEI departments, and the withdrawal of brand support for symbolic DEI events, like Mardi Gras. In tandem, there is a rising concern that minority groups may be feeling less safe to vocalise their needs in the workplace.
The research aims to determine the validity and scope of this sentiment, testing the hypothesis that there has been a slow but seismic shift in confidence to publicly speak out against societal and workplace issues.
“We started FckTheCupcakes five years ago and there was a feeling of slow but real progress in the industry on the topic of inclusion and diversity. DE&I was a big agenda item. But all of a sudden there is anecdotal feedback that the industry is returning very quickly to where we were 20 years ago and that we’re now entering a “post-woke” period,” said Innocean CEO Jasmin Bedir.
“I’ve noticed that it has gone really quiet and women are saying behind closed doors that it’s too risky to speak up anymore. The data we hope to collect aims to provide a “reality check” for the Australian Advertising and Marketing industry’s leadership teams. If our industry’s public facing values are diverging from the lived experience of our talent, what are we doing to resolve the risk of progressive retention and overall reputational risk?”
The audit’s focus is on recruiting participants from the Australian Marketing and Advertising industry. While inclusive of all genders, the data architecture is designed to specifically analyse whether there is a “silence tax”, how it manifests, and the extent of its impact.
“We do hope that the study proves us wrong. But if not, we will be working to do something about it. So this is the start of a bigger conversation, with the intention to expand the research into other aspects of individual identity, such as race, religious beliefs, and sexual orientation, in the years ahead,” concluded Innocean CSO Giorgia Butler.
