Auntie Christ has some interesting thoughts on
making a contribution whilst pursuing our admittedly less-than-august profession.
We all need to earn our way, and making money has let me contribute to places like the Red Cross when natural disasters strike. That's probably one of the only ways our careers actually matter -- barring owning a million dollar apartment, we can afford to help others around the planet when the need is there. I'm not thumping a Bible here, just saying we can look beyond our own insulated selves and give a leg up to the people who go into debt buying the junk we help sell.
I've been asked how I can, in good conscience, work in advertising. (I've also been asked how I can raise kids in Manhattan--why is that question considered OK in polite company but it would be rude for me to ask someone how they can raise kids in Des Moines?)
Do we owe the world for applying our creative skills to pushing product rather than a greater good? Um, I think not. Say you ignored your need for the obvious motivator for most people in the business--$$, that handy thing that you can turn into food and housing and your kids' education--say you followed your heart and went to work for a nonprofit at a fraction what you earn now. It's no guarantee you'd leave the world a better place. Plenty of nonprofits, in my experience, exhibit just as much turf-warring and petty politics as offices in global conglomerates--only the turf they're fighting for is a lot smaller.
I think our moral responsibility (should you decide to take on that mission) has more to do with having a conscience in our day to day work. Remembering that the spot or ad or site we're working on will be seen by hundreds or thousands or millions who will (god help them) take their cues for what is desirable, what to aspire to--and making choices in casting, copy, visuals (to the extent we have a choice) that reflect our own views on how the world should be.
Joker points out that he's "a hell of a lot prouder of what I've written in my blog and commented on fellow blogs than most of what I've done in my career." Unfortunately, unless you are as lucky as
Copyranter, blogging isn't yet a paying gig. Until then, I'll be dialing for ad dollars and the world can thank me for not pursuing an even more morally reprehensible career. Say, politics.
