So a while back, I received this …
Now I have to be honest, I read it a few times and I still don’t understand what the hell it is going on about.
Of course, the fact they lied at the very beginning put them off to a bad start given none of my close friends work in advertising, let alone at Ogilvy .. but more than that, why would I even care about ‘where I ranked with my peers’.
Ranked based on what?
Hair on your head?
Birkenstock ownership?
Kebabs eaten?
If that wasn’t stupid enough, it then goes ultra-weird by talking about how I am comfortable mingling with ‘creative types’ and that the lifestyle we live is one the ‘mainstream’ crave … possibly because of a TELEVISION SHOW ABOUT A FICTIONAL AD AGENCY BASED IN THE 1960’S!!!
WHAT.
THE.
FUCK?
Then, to put the shit icing on the shit cake, they try and lure me in by suggesting my advice might be worth money.
Well guess what … it already is, I’m paid for my advice by clients. And while many of you may find that madness, it’s not nearly as mad as thinking a right-minded person would give me money for my advice on how to live.
And what advice would I actually give them?
The best takeout restaurant to order from?
The best IKEA furniture to buy when you’re too tight to buy something designer?
The average public transport costs to get to and from the airport?
Seriously, what is it about my life – or anyone else’s for that matter – that someone would find interesting, let alone willing to pay for.
And you know what, even if there was something … I’d rather shit in my hands and clap than be a part of this pretentious bullshit.
This industry is bad enough for being disconnected to reality without people actively trying to make it worse … and then there’s the issue that if someone is getting paid for ‘how they live’, that may influence them to live in ways that are not authentic, just because they think that will impress more people and get them more money.
Without wishing to sound horrible, the last people I’d like to spend my social time with are others in the industry.
Actually that’s not true.
The last people I’d like to spend my social time with are others in the industry who measure their value by being in the industry.
Everything about this email insulted me and I hope the people who are behind it – and are a part of it – leave me the fuck alone in future.