Breaking Brand: Big-boos from big brands
Last week, I attended an important debate in London that aimed to address the issue of ageism in the PR industry. It’s a subject close to my heart as I was rejected from starting my career in PR by several agencies because of my age – I was only 31-32 at the time. Hardly past my sell-by date.
Because I wasn’t getting the opportunity to make the switch from media sales into my dream career in PR, I had to make a decision: do I resolve my fate to a career of media sales that I had come to despise or forge a career in PR under my own steam? I opted for the latter and it is for others to judge if the last 20 years are testament to this being a wise or piddle-poor decision.
There is a point to this and that is that ageism is rife across many industries. It is a real problem not just from a society perspective, but from a branding a reputation one too as this recent boo-boo from one of the biggest global players in their space shows.
Indeed.com: “In your 50s? You’re done, mate.”
Indeed.com, the online careers portal, found itself facing a reputation storm recently over the publication of a report on the future of work. It is a topic that is both fascinating and critically important to employers looking to keep abreast of the latest trends.
Moreover, such reports provide audiences with invaluable insights that could enable them to make better informed decisions on how to future-proof their workforces.
But any hopes that the company - which employs over 10,000 people - may have had about using the report to boost its profile and position itself as a trusted resource for its global audience of HR professionals will have been evaporated following its publication.
What’s the problem?
The report, in its original form, courted a barrage of complaints from recruiters and HR professionals alike over the way in which different age groups were described.
Accordingly, workers aged 35-45 years old are ‘mid-career’. Hardly controversial I know but wait until you read how they labelled those in the next two categories.
Indeed.com describes those aged 45 years as being at the ‘late career’ stage, which most of you reading will consider to be a tad harsh given such individuals probably have around 20 years of experience under their belts so far and at least another 20 to run.
Where the report really stuffed up was in the final age category – the 55’s and over. This group of workers are, according to Indeed.com, in ‘decline.’ Which means that I have just three and a bit years left before my career becomes subject to rigor mortis and decay… ahem.
Brand implications
Indeed.com responded in two ways to the plethora of criticism. First, it edited the report and deleted the imbecilic ageist references stated above. And second, it issued a response stating:
“We deeply apologize for the content contained in the article - the content was wrong, period. It does not reflect our values of inclusivity, our hiring practices, or the way our website operates. We are committed to our mission to help all people, of all ages, get?jobs.”
They said the right thing, but the fact that:
1.????? The descriptions made it past the senior marketers in the organisation,
2.????? The publication was signed off for approval, and
3.????? None of the 10,000+ employees spotted the error or bothered to flag it to anyone…
… is evidence of a company not practicing what it preaches.
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This is akin to the dumb f*ck adverts we see banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) because they were likely to offend certain societal groups, whether it be age, gender, religion race, etc.
Indeed (no pun intended), I was interviewed on BBC TV, BBC Radio, PRWeek and several others when Heineken, H&M, VW and Dove were all exposed for campaigns that were clearly conceived in meeting rooms populated by teams where ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusivity’ are buzz words that have little or no practical application within their organisations.
And that is a major problem. It is also the reason why someone reading the description of a worker in their 50s as being ‘in decline’ didn’t ring any alarm bells.
As for Indeed.com, the statement above will have gone some way to digging themselves out of a hole, but this is a humiliation and highlights the issues the company has; they’re happy to talk the talk, but they’re certainly not walking it.
Perhaps this brand boo-boo will action some very much needed change. Or they could simply do what my teacher wife does when a student makes a faux pas – that is to simply say, ‘Think next time. Just think before you act or speak.’ Wise words, Mrs MC.
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