Tuesday, December 18, 2007

at least the stupid things we say at meetings aren't posted on youtube

Most art directors are anal and controlling by nature. Just ask a client. Junior brand managers coming into the business are often bewildered by the fact that although the mothership they work for is paying the bills, they have no say on the look of "their" ads or the size of the logo that appears in them. (Let their division heads throw weight around and, of course, that's another matter.)

Writers can be just as compulsive. I live in fear of mass-produced typos and would probably lose even more sleep at night if I was the only proofreader of ads I send into the world. It's a comfort to know that work with my name on it (so to speak) is read and reread by 5 or 6 people whose initials confirm that it's good to go. Which is to say I am tempermentally unsuited to a profession where there's no time to review work or revise it or correct mistakes before they go out. For this reason, I could never be a political candidate or a stand-up comedian or a live TV announcer like this unfortunate news anchor who may herself be scouting for a different profession.

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