OAA Apologise for "Career Women Make Bad Mothers" Campaign

[OAA]

The OAA are running a campaign to demonstrate the power of outdoor advertising to drive people online. This is being done in conjunction with a new website called ?Britainthinks.com? which encourages debate amongst the people of Britain.

We regret any misunderstanding that led to feelings of offence on the part of members of the Mumsnet community.

The intention of the website is to generate debate by posing questions that are deemed to be socially relevant by members of society.

We did not intend to cause any offence and we would stress that the questions posed were not the opinions of the OAA or any of its members.

Three posters were designed to initiate the debate using sport, life and politics and these are supported by dozens of other questions on the website itself.

Regrettably the question relating to ?career women? has caused offence and the OAA unreservedly apologises to anyone who has been offended. This was not our intention and, to ensure that this misunderstanding does not persist, instructions have been given to remove this poster.

Subject to the vagaries of the weather, all copy will be removed as soon as possible. The sites currently carrying this poster will be either blanked-out or carry one of the other designs. The poster will also be removed from the ?Britainthinks.com? website. All Digital posters have already been removed.

i can't think that anyone would argue with you though, suzy, it shouldn't be a luxury for women to be with their children and it shouldn't ruin their hard-won careers.

like i say, it's all thatcher's fault.

Well a day out with clients and lots has happened! DD now bathed, cuddled, read her favourite book and in the land of nod so off to check out the Beta blog and other links...

Welcome Suzy

You know what? After having been so involved in all this, and reading all the press comment, blogs, articles, twitter feeds etc as it's unfolded over the past week, my feelings have moved from anger to just overwhelming, crushing sadness.

Until this campaign launched I really didn't have much of a clue how much hatred towards working mothers there really is. It really has provided a speaker platform for some terrible, terrible commentary.

I'm really proud to be a mum, and I'm really proud to have carved out a niche for myself in my chosen industry and to be fitting it neatly around DD so that she is with a childminder just two days a week, and at home with either me or my husband, or both of us, the rest of the time. It's bloody hard, and requires a lot of dedication.

To read some of those awful, awful comments that follow a lot of the online articles just makes me feel thoroughly deflated and really very upset that there are so many people out there who genuinely believe that what I am working so hard to achieve is wrong. I was blissfully ignorant before, but now I know they are there, in my city, on the bus next to me, across the table from me in a meeting, everywhere and anywhere, looking disdainfully at me and judging, forming opinions about me. And perhaps deciding not to award me that contract or pay me a fair rate for my work.

My newfound 'awareness' thanks to this campaign has actually dented my self-confidence more than I thought possible.

I know I'm taking it all quite personally now, so am going to step away quietly.

BIWI in answer to your question - the apology was bad IMHO because it stated the ads had been withdrawn - so why are new ones going up then.

Anyhoooo .....

I am a mother and I book ADVERTISING.

Funnily enough I cancel them too when my agency pisses me off or does something daft.

Ce la vie.

I have to say though, if I made a sweeping statement of this type in my day job, I'd have at least 50 of my staff taking action against me! Funny how one can be as bigoted as you like in advertising, and that's fine, but on a personal level it's not okay.

Incidentally, I think much of the hatred towards working mothers is about people who hate to think of anyone else 'having it all' (when in fact the 'all' is like being pulled into pieces on a daily basis emotionally and being physically exhausted to boot).

The unusual is feared and disliked - house husbands, women who work, male midwives, you name it, you don't fit the norm, a lot of people are going to have a problem with it. Where it changes is when there is a high enough proportion of people who fit into that category to become a norm, so perhaps we could look at it another way and support initiatives to recognise women in the workplace - like for me the Women in Technology Initiative. Let's work with them instead.

i would love to work for you, whomoved, i bet you are a great boss. (and then i could live in your log cabin also).

CCL - you really were blissfully ignorant if you assumed no-one was judging you for the decisions you made. We all make judgements about other people based on what we observe about their behaviour. Of course there were people who judged you just as you judged Garry, Sharon and the rest of the Beta crowd. That is, unfortunately, the way of the world.

Of course there are people out there who hate working mothers, just as there are people who think only white people should live in this country, or that people really are abducted by aliens. Luckily all three groups form minorities so one shouldn't get it out of proportion.

Unless you're Michael Winner, of course things will dent your confidence. Being a SAHM has dented mine but you just have to focus on why you made the decision you did and trust your own judgement.

I get you, WMMC. The non-removal of posters is incredibly insulting.

And yy to the rest of your post - sorry, posting and running as it's late and I'm off to bed. Will return to this tomorrow.

Don't be sad CCL.

For all the a*holes in your office (or in the world) who may be judging you (or any of us), there are younger women who are looking at you and thinking 'hey maybe I can do this too (when the time comes).

Don't take any notice of the comments following the Times article etc. Those same people are commenting on every newspaper article that is about something which is different from a perceived cultural norm as whomoved says. But I say 'perceived....' because as we all know, the norm is detached from reality.

And this is what they want, the sexists and people like them - to dent your confidence, so you won't stand up and demand more money, a promotion, fair treatment, any rights, a satisfying life. Don't let them succeed.

There's one poster in a toilet in a North London shopping mall that now reads "Career women make badass mothers."

I had a pen, I couldn't resist

Rafi

Rafi: did you photograph it, please say you did!

CCL - for every comment on the Times website I bet there are five Rafi's. So no more of this depression, eh? [pours CCL a large glass of wine and passes her a copy of The Art of War]

No - but I might have to go back just so I can!

please do ... I will so spread it everywhere if you can get a decent photo!

rafi

CCL - give yourself a break from the sad bigotedlosers blogs! Those relics from the past are in an ever shrinking minority. Plus, you should be proud of what we achieved on here over the last few days thanks in large part to yr e-mails and great posts.

Gosh it's amazing how a night's sleep can put things into perspective. You're all right of course, and thanks for the wine and reading material mrsb! .

Nice work rafi

Thanks

I'll see what I can do.

An update. The billboards I have been monitoring remain up.

Yesterday I received a letter from the Advertising Standards Authority in response to my complaint, saying that as the ad is being withdrawn they will not pursue an investigation but inviting me to contact them if I saw the ad again. I took them up on the invitation and just spoke to the nice chap from the ASA. He explained they thought it was reasonable to give the OAA some time to remove the ads since it had been a large campaign, and we agreed that given the snow they would need longer than normal. I asked him how long was 'a reasonable time' to give them, as I would refile the complaint if they weren't removed after whatever they determined to be a reasonable time. He is asking his manager and we will speak again.

Anyone else still seeing them?

Good work workingitout! I will check mine later - in anticipation of my annoyance they stuck one at the end of my road. The campaign was supposed to last for two weeks ie ends this weekend.

Yes- an enormous billboard by my tube this morning

No snow anywhere near it- all melted.

We have been lied to, ladies.

I have also got a letter from the ASA. It says:

"Our main sanction lies in having ads amended or removed. This ad first started appearing on the 4th January and the advertisers themselves decided to withdraw it on the 6th January without our intervention due to public reaction. On that basis, we do believe that further action is necessary. That said, if you see the ad again in future please contact me directly."

Now, I am fairly sure that they don't normally do this. In cases of taste and decency, I don't think they have EVER dropped a case just because the advertiser withdrew the ad. I've asked them this. I also think it's bad practice because anyone could say anything and then promise to pull it down (which takes weeks) and the ASA won't pursue it! Madness!

So I have asked them some ancilliary questions...

I had the same letter in this morning's post. I've contacted them to let them know I saw the ad in two places yesterday, plus still hearing loads of sightings mentioned on twitter. Just emailed the dude who's name was on the letter, so will see what he says.

I asked the same question MP about dropping the case because the ad has been withdrawn, never heard of such a thing.

ZUT ALORS!

OOA client pulls business!

Sexism really is v. bad for business