Placement Poverty, part two (call to action)

Editor's note: The first part of this feature was published on Campaign in 2015.

Those same two advertising sorts are talking at another one of those advertising things. 

Gaz: Oh, you again.

Baz: Alright? Wanted to talk to you about something.

Gaz: My provocative LinkedIn posts? 

Baz: No. Something else.

Gaz: Yeah, those takes are probably just too damn spicy for ya.

Baz: Remember that article we had printed in Campaign 10 years ago?

Gaz: “Why Foursquare is here to stay”?

Baz: No

Gaz: “How to be a Russell Brand not a Russell Bland”?

Baz: No, the one about paying placements teams properly. 

Gaz: Sounds incredibly dull. Remind me. 

Baz: We suggested agencies should start paying placements a Real Living Wage and a freelance rate after three months. 

Gaz: And none of them did, right?

Baz: All of them did. All the good ones anyway. Nearly 100 agencies signed up to The Placement Poverty Pledge. 

Gaz: Impressive. Must have got a ton of likes on LinkedIn? 

Baz: It was more about welcoming people into the industry who couldn’t afford to, basically, work for free. 

Gaz: Hmmm. Feels very last decade. I thought Trump said diversity wasn’t important any more.

Baz: He’s not a fan but a lot of other people are and, according to The Sutton Trust research, we’ve some way to go. 

Gaz: In a sentence please.

Baz: “The creative industries are elitist and inaccessible to young people from working-class backgrounds.”

Gaz: I think that’s why I like the creative industries to be honest.

Baz: Yep, makes sense. But the way it’s set up now is incredibly unfair. In fact, The Sutton Trust has called for all unpaid internships to be banned. 

Gaz: I thought you said it was sorted.

Baz: We’re making good progress in advertising, but unpaid and below minimum wage internships still exist in other creative industries, like design, PR, media and marketing. 

Gaz: I guess, no matter what your background, everyone deserves a shot at drinking in the Gutter Bar.

Baz: That’s the dream.

Gaz: So, what’s the plan, Gandhi?

Baz: Well, I was thinking we take The Placement Poverty Pledge and push it out to those other industries.

Gaz: Set up other pledges?

Baz: Exactly. Using notable spokespeople from within each industry.

Gaz: As notable as the ones who set up the PPP? Wow.

Baz: And use other auspicious industry titles, like Campaign, to help promote it.

Gaz: Industry titles as auspicious at Campaign? Crumbs. So, what’s the plan?

Baz: We just give them the tools and framework we used for the PPP and let them run with it.

Gaz: Let them piggyback on someone else’s hard work?

Baz: Exactly. 

Gaz: Built my career on just that. And think of all the kudos you’d get on LinkedIn.

Baz: And the people you could help?

Gaz: Yeah, that too, I suppose. In a way.

It’s 10 years since The Placement Poverty Pledge changed the way creative placements and interns were looked after within advertising agencies. It’s about time we put an end to placement poverty in other industries. If you’re reading this and you’d like to help make that change within yours, get in touch. Everything’s set up and ready to go. 

Ben, Andy and Stu info@placementpovertypledge.com  

Ben Harris is a freelance writer and creative director, Andy Peel is the director of Young Creative Council and Stu Outhwaite-Noel is chief creative officer at Modern Citizens.

(Photo: Getty)