Why Do your job?
I was reading something quite embarrassing on the weekend (I think it might have been the Style section of the Sunday Times), but there was something in it that I thought might be blogworthy:
I think it said that Alain de Boton tweeted that your job is worth doing if it reduces someone’s suffering or increases their joy.
And I suppose, by extension, that means your job is not worth doing if it does the opposite of those two things.
Both categories can of course encompass advertising.
Your work can annoy and degrade people. It can belittle them, make them feel awkward and inadequate; inspire insecurity, misery, bullying and fear. It can make people’s children resent them; it can promote obesity, indolence, ignorance and profligacy.
On the other hand, it can comfort, encourage, educate and broaden horizons. it can inspire creativity, make people realise their potentials, save lives and reduce suffering.
In almost every brief you have the choice to do one of the above, and that is a rare and wonderful privilege.
Striving for intelligence, tolerance, warmth, understanding and the promotion of the kinds of values that make the world a better place is a noble way to spend your working life.
Undermining any of that is wrong.
You only have a certain amount of time on this planet.
Perhaps this can all be distilled into a single simple phrase:
Don’t be a cunt.
One persons joy is anothers misery.
And if that is true, perhaps the most we can hope for is a good nights sleep.
The world is not black or white.
Everything does not have to have an opposite.
Everything is merely a fluke.
Twitter could just have easily been 141 characters long… Or never fucking invented.
yupe. say writing for McDonald’s could mean two things
it could be mean excess adipose for someone with a slow metabolism.
or it could be a beak from cooking for a working mom with two kids.
how do i do it?
n.b. please ignore the previous post, had a typo 🙂
90% cunts in advertising i reckon.
Over the years, my work has helped create millions of ¬£ of business. And raise (admittedly fewer) millions of ¬£ for extremely worthy causes. I’ve been fortunate that I never had to face the ‘moral dilemma’ of advertising fags or fast food. I’ve never taken out my frustrations on anyone who has worked for me. Never fired anyone just because they weren’t my ‘mate’.
I imagine that there’s a lot of people in advertising who can make similar claims. Most people in the business are decent and honest ‚Äì certainly the ones I’ve met. So how does that add up to 90% cunt?
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by harshalg, Paul Saxton and Jexy, Ben Kay. Ben Kay said: New Post: don't be a cunt http://ow.ly/34dCF […]
I’d say lower than that, 65% cunts.
‘Don’t be a cunt’. I mean really, that’s how the Bible should open.
Just for the record I am a prick and not a cunt. Ben cleared that up a while back, but if there are any lingering doubts do set things straight Ben.
Tea party’s just hacked this blog!
Ben, you seem like an intelligent, sympathetic person who appreciates language and all its nuances. So how come you’re happy to call people cunts?
Bill Bernbach said the same thing, perhaps a little
more eloquently: “All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level.”
Ciaran
I honestly believe that it’s more like 20% cunt in our industry. But I reckon 1/5 of any business is made up of derogatory slang for lady parts.
@Mr Positive
“Over the years, my work has helped create millions of ¬£ of business.”
Ha ha.
What does Alain de Botton know about work anyway? The bald, toffee-nosed cunt.
Not everyone gets to choose their career.
Ciaran: more eloquent? Get fucked.
Germaine: who have I called a cunt?
I’m not denying I’ve done that a few times, but I wonder if you are referring to a specific occasion.
I think ‘cunt’ is a great word to describe a certain kind of person.
Actually the first words of the bible are –
‘Don’t be a cunt, you cunt’
He has never called me a cunt only a prick.
Ben, don’t get me started on that whole misogyny of language thing . . .
Direct correlation between lack of talent and level of cuntiness.
Cuntiness makes up for insecurity.
I’ve been a cunt in the office. Usually to out-cunt the cunts that used casual cuntishness to get their own way every cunting time. I’d recommend it.
@Bollocks: no, honestly. Millions of ¬£. Why is that funny? Haven’t you done the same?
Germaine Greer, you cobweb-crack bag of syphilis.
Bring it, bitch.
Ben,
Very generous offer, but no thank you.
Ciaran
Alain de Botton can fuck off when it comes to talking about jobs. What the fuck does he know about working a proper job? He come from one of the richest families in Switzerland, he’s got more money than knows what to do with, so for him to start getting all philosophical about what work means to people is a bit, er, rich.
Oh my poor Onicker. Have nasty girls been laughing at your tiny little winkle?
mr positve. you’re a cunt, for making up the bullshit you just typed. like i said the industry is full of cunts, people that talk a good game like yourself but have nothing to back it up. you complete cunt.
The cunty ones in creative departments always seem to end up becoming the boss. Ask yourself, is your boss the nicest, most talented one in the department? Or is he/she the cunty, semi-talented one with a shit-dipped tongue and a Stalinesque sense of opportunism? (I put ‘/she’ in there for a laugh.)
Hi ermm. You don’t know who I am. How do you know I ‘have nothing to back it up’? None of what I have typed is bullshit. Today, anyway.
@ermm: Hold on a minute. I’m trying to say that we’re NOT a bunch of cunts and you’re having a go at me?
Germaine,
Yeah, that’s it.
Stupid cunt.
At the end of the day which would you rather, be surrounded by cunts or surrounded by pricks?
ermm. Mr. P said that he was one of those one man teams that Ben was talking about the other day, so I suspect he probably has at least a little bit of a clue what he is saying and doing. You may not have liked the statement saying he’s made millions of pounds for business, but let’s not forget, that is what we do. Make money for people. And I don’t mean just creatives. It’s what we ALL DO.
fuck off mr positive, you complete cunt
@Mr Positive
You’re Hayter aren’t ya?
yes mr positive that’s because i’m not in the 10% of nice people.
Just seen this for scrabble Ben (and it’s not a scam) would be nice to see peoples thoughts:
http://vimeo.com/16405326
Here in America, they say to target advertising to a 6th grade education level. I have chosen to raise the bar. I also write from the heart, hoping to elevate people’s hope and expectations rather than debase them. I think if we use our craft to enlighten people as to what could be, rather than what is, then we have made the only contribution we can. Am I an idealist? Probably. So what’s wrong with that?
@Bollocks: guess again.
brilliant i just sent this to the cuntiest boss that ever walked the face of the earth
“One persons joy is anothers misery.” maybe. but if the ‘joy’ one person experiences while causing another’s misery, that’s not joy, but delusion, which will hunt you down one way or another. eventually.
“Over the years, my work has helped create millions of ¬£ of business. And raise (admittedly fewer) millions of ¬£ for extremely worthy causes.” cant call it even then, can you. no need for that anyway, if the money created for business was for worthy causes.
“The world is not black or white.” yes.
“it could be a beak from cooking for a working mom with two kids.” thats not how its promoted, is it. frankly, thats not what its supposed to be, is it. they dont give a shit.
“Ben, don‚Äôt get me started on that whole misogyny of language thing . . .” i for one dont have a problem with that. cunt. twat. slut. whatever. apllies to men as well. or cunting puppies.
love the post, by the way, ben. more than last night.