Tuesday, April 11, 2023

16208: A Recruitment Video For The Ages…?

Branding In Asia and other trade sources reported on a video produced by the Federation Against Ageism Towards Ad Creatives (FAAAC) and directed by Kiran Koshy, the author of a recent rant on ageism in Adland published at Advertising Age.

 

Gee, there’s an anti-ageism federation for the industry—yet no anti-racist coalition in sight.

 

Regarding the silly video, its director declared, “Every line is rooted in the truth, and it’s a dark piece because the truth is dark, and we should all be outraged.”

 

Okay, but wanna know what’s not dark? The exclusively White advertising industry. Very few Old White Guys and Gals appear to be outraged about that historical truth.

 

Addressing Ageism in the Ad World – ‘The Last March of an Ad Creative’

 

“We worked on making sure the script didn’t rely on hyperbole as the truth was shocking enough and just needed to be told well.”

 

By Bobby McGill

 

Kiran Koshy of broadcasting & media production company Raucous Content has directed a new film in collaboration with the Federation Against Ageism Towards Ad Creatives (FAAAC), highlighting the Anti-Ageism Movement in the advertising space.

 

The dark yet comedic film exposes “the truth of ageism within creative departments,” with a Koshy and agency creatives teaming up to tackle an issue that hits close to home through the creation of the 2-minute and 30-second film that examines what it means to have a creative career in advertising today.

 

Koshy said the film was released with the intention to call attention to a worthy problem plaguing the industry.

 

“As a former agency creative, I’m very aware of this issue, and it’s something I care about deeply as most of my friends are still agency creatives,” said Koshy.

 

“I really gravitated towards the idea the FAAAC team had about creating the most honest recruitment ad for the ad industry ever, to expose the guts of the problem. We worked on making sure the script didn’t rely on hyperbole as the truth was shocking enough and just needed to be told well.”

 

Koshy adds that “Every line is rooted in the truth, and it’s a dark piece because the truth is dark, and we should all be outraged. However, we did balance it with deliberate humor to make for a more engaging piece.”

 

According to its website, the FAAAC was founded “to speak the truth about ageism towards creative people in advertising, build awareness about the problem—especially amongst those considering it as a career—and work on solutions to remedy it.” They add that “the industry owes creative people careers that last long enough to be considered a career.”

 

Koshy said: “I’ve seen a lot of my incredibly talented friends be discarded by the industry in their prime, and I’ve seen how it’s affected their mental well-being and family life.”

 

“Almost everyone in their 40s questions if they made the right choice in getting into the business and the industry has quite consciously promoted the myth that younger people are more creative because it lets them lower salaries and squeeze margins.”

 

The entire crew, and post, including Charlie Uniform Tango and Nice Shoes, donated time and resources to make the film. “It’s something they all believed in,” said Koshy.

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