Creative? What creative??

About three weeks ago, following massive objections by working mothers, the Outdoor Advertising Association ordered the withdrawal of an outdoor campaign, the first creative of which read "Career women make bad mothers".

Naturally, as a career woman/working mother myself, you can imagine my initial reaction in seeing a billboard with such a slogan plastered all over London! But at this point I thought, 'NO, NO...I won't give in to this...it is clearly supposed to raise a storm and I won't give them (the 'creative' agency) the satisfaction of showing my anger...'

But then, a week ago, I went to a dinner party, and lo and behold, what was the subject that we debated and argued about for an entire hour and half? You guessed it. The time had come to speak out.

 

 

Now, the agency that came up with this poor concept apparently intended to demonstrate how outdoor advertising still has the power to create debate. I may have to concede that it created debate, but that was due purely to the controversial message, not the medium.

I chose the word 'controversial' to describe this campaign because 'thought-provoking' doesn't apply here. 'Thought-provoking' would mean that, although I don't agree with the message, it was delivered with wit, interesting and inspiring creative - but there is nothing creative or engaging in an ad which uses only a blatantly offensive and contentious subject matter to raise debate. How unoriginal and dull!

Let's face it, I am confident I could quite easily come up with at least five incredibly contentious and divisive headlines (as no doubt you may be, too), but I could never claim that any of them delivered an amazingly original or inspiring message.

Also, and crucially, the agency didn't seem to consider where and how the debate was going to take place, and how they might best respond to and participate in it. The microsite they had set up for the purpose was almost ignored (www.britainthinks.com - which is no more). All the discussions, outrage, and anger (oh yes, it raised all these feelings and more!) spread like wildfire in the space of just a few hours on just about every other forum, blog and social media platform imaginable but their microsite. They had absolutely no chance of mediating or furthering their own argument - they lost the battle before it even began. So perhaps a more careful planning of their digital approach would not have gone amiss!

The campaign was withdrawn the very next day after it appeared.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't...

So, apart from the very bad example of dire creative, what else is there to say about this pointless campaign?

Well, as a mother of one I can honestly say it seems you are damned if you do and you are damned if you don't!

If you decide to stay home and make your main job that of raising your children, you are labeled as un-ambitious, lacking direction or drive, even lazy. If you instead decide to raise a family but also have a career at the same time (and most of us don't actually have the financial luxury to choose otherwise) you are branded as selfish, unloving compared to stay-at-home-mums, and frankly unworthy of raising the next generation!

So to that I say 'WHATEVER'. I am a working 'woman' - and I say 'woman', not 'mother', because though I am a mother and a wife, it does not mean that I cease to be an individual. Like so many women, I'm trying to support my family and achieve something on top of being a good and loving mother. Why do we need to choose? Yes, it can be a challenge and at times stressful to juggle such intense and all-consuming roles, but it's also rewarding, exciting, challenging and fulfilling.

...As for my little girl, I hope my example will help her grow up independent and well-balanced, with a strong, positive work ethic. And I'll be checking my approval rating with her, not with some so-called 'creative' agency!