www.broadwayworld.com: Following in the footsteps of AT&T and Old Navy, Wells Fargo has become the latest business to draw the ire of arts professionals for running an advertisement that portrays the pursuit of the arts as inferior to sports and the sciences. The ad shows images of two different teens working on experiments as part of Wells Fargo's marketing for their upcoming Teen Day.
11 comments:
Though I did not personally take to social media to express my disappointment in Wells Fargo, these advertisements implying a career in the arts is unrealistic disappoint me. First off, the facts show that it simply isn't true, and a career in the arts is viable. Secondly, artists of all kinds were used in the making of this advertisement. An advertisement mocking or shaming teens interested in the arts is quite ironic. Teen models/actors are used to star in the advertisements. The art around the kids is created by a designer, and so on. So many people see the arts as a risky business, however, those same people forget that someone designed the shirt they are wearing while spouting those statements, and watching their television.
Beyond the fact that these ads are clearly discounting the value or art and artists in favor of other careers (which, although in my opinion wrong, I can understand why a bank would want to promote jobs that are more lucrative than art, sorta kinda,) I’m a little more baffled by the jobs they chose as alternatives to art. Specifically, the career choice as a botanist. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against botany, or botanists. Plants are cool and useful and everything, but who was the asshole at the ad agency who came up with botany as a more glorious job than acting? If you’re going take a dump on artists, why not go all the way to hedge fund manager? Or Stock broker? Or at least small business owner? Seriously, not only is this advertisement offensive, but it’s a shitty ad. It not only discourages people to quit their dreams (unless your dream is to be a botanist, in which case, all power to you), but it straight up doesn’t make any sense.
Wow, it is incredible how tone deaf these Wells Fargo Ads are. I'm honestly not even sure what the point is. What distinction are they trying to draw by putting down the Arts? I see in the ad that it is actually a notice for "Teen Day" whatever that is. So perhaps the idea is that in high school, students are free to pursue the arts, but for some reason that opportunity dries up, or at least should not be pursued once they leave High School. I still don’t get why it is the arts in particular that some marketer at Wells Fargo chose to pick on? Aren’t there a lot of other things you do in high school that don’t particularly “cut it” in the real world? Perhaps with all the “micro-aggression” training floating around, maybe they could start with not putting down equally valid professions. Lastly, it just seems so shallow to me that some people don’t understand that people who train in “the arts”, fill the entertainment industry in a infinite number of roles. All the media, entertainment you consume, literally, is produced in some way by somebody with arts training.
I had seen a few mentions of these ads across the social medias this week, but I hadn't been exposed to the unaltered documents since now, and wow, did Wells Fargo louse this one up. The main issue with this advertisement is the implication that artistic pursuits are something to leave behind, which is why I believe many of my friends are up in arms about it, considering artistic pursuits are not only our yesterday, but our today and our tomorrow. A popular edit shows Leslie Odom Jr. in the actor column as being an actor yesterday and an actor today, but that doesn't have the same ring to it, I suppose. I agree with Ben that there's no clear point to these ads, with the only possible thing I can extrapolate being that they were saying eventually your children will come into more money than they did in their silly art career once they go to night school and get their GED so you should prepare for the massive influx of cash your family is about to deal with you may just need to get a vault like Scrooge Mcduck to dive into all your gold you get once your child quits doing something they are passionate about and finally spends 10 million dollars on med school just so they can file down the teeth of cats!
Your move, Wells Fargo.
When I first saw these, I thought they were memes. Mostly because I can't imagine a world where being a botanist is considered more legitimate than being a ballerina. I guess no one in marketing even had the passing thought that disparaging anyone's careers was a risky move. On the surface, you could argue that were making pretend houses for people pretending to be pretend people BUT studies have continually shown that a well rounded education including the arts has proved to be very beneficial to students. In addition, the arts are the driving force behind a variety of impactful political movements (Eclipsed, Hamilton, Fun Home, The Color Purple etc) so there's no denying the impact of the arts on our society. This ad seems to be geared towards parents/teachers of young people as well so not only is is discouraging to those young people, its also encouraging elders to beat down their kids dreams and guide them down a more prosperous path (prosperous, like plants, like a botanist.) I'd just like to ad that the most ironic part of this whole fiasco is the fact that those posters were made by a graphic designer who is, in fact, an artist making a legitimate living in the arts.
Like all the other people who commented on this article, I am personally appalled by this ad, however, I cannot be mad at Wells Fargo for the "teen day" images when I see this sentiment reflected throughout our culture. I personally grew up in a very engineering-focused area of the country. Everyone I knew growing up, and the vast majority of my friends from home work or study engineering. Art was seen as a trivial and most-likely not successful pursuit. I cannot be shocked or angry at Wells Fargo because, after all these years, I almost expect this view of the arts from other people. I've been desensitized to the issue after a year of seeing the immediate change in my friends' parents faces as they realize I don't go to Carnegie Mellon for engineering or computer science(an idea to be delighted over), but rather for art. I am used to hearing the whispers behind my back as they wonder how I will ever manage to pay off my student loans while working in the arts. I am tired of hearing my own family declare, when I tell them I've learned to weld, or turn, or build, that at least I will have a fall back in construction. Wells Fargo has nothing other than create an ad that conforms to the culture in which we live. Be mad at society, not the company it markets to.
This whole situation has just been one big sigh. Its not surprising to me at all that someone thought this shit was cute, but it is surprising that SO MANY people that this was an okay thing to put out. It’s not like this is a tweet that maybe a small part of Wells Fargo is in charge of, this is an ad campaign and I refuse to believe that anything less than 30 people looked at this and approved it. And I’m thinking purely from a business standpoint, not even expecting someone in one of the meetings that this was shown in to be a decent person, but literally thinking about it as a marketing person. Our generation, the very teens that this ad campaign is for, is known for its “hyper sensitivity,” its ability to find everything offensive. So why come after an entire group of people like that, especially when actors have such a prominent voice, and such a large influence on teens today! Like how does that make sense!
Also did they not think about the artistic director that styled that photo shoot, or that photographer, or that set dresser, or that costume designer, or the graphic designers all working for that ad alone? Art is all around us people! Wake up.
The amount of times I have seen something about this posted on Facebook in the past week is unreal. I was obviously annoyed and kind of upset when I first saw the ads, but now I just think this is so funny. Like Jasmine mentions, so many people had to approve this for it to be such a widely launched campaign. A whole board of people looked at this ad and said, "Yes! Let's belittle and insult an entire industry of people, thus ensuring that they will never support or use our services again!" Are you telling me that NO ONE had enough common sense to look at that ad and say "Hmmmmmm.... maaaaybe we shouldn't do this." For me, I think these ads are especially hilarious because I went to a high school that specialized in engineering, and I decided to go into theatre instead. So for me the ad would be, "An engineer yesterday. A stage manager today." The fact that this entire situation ever happened is just so stupid. I understand that people think the arts do not matter. They're wrong because they generally do not really get how much is encompassed by the arts, but whatever, they are going to think however they want to think. But in what world would any advertising and marketing team think that blantently insulting an entire industry is a good idea. Oh well.
I saw this a few days ago and was annoyed by it like most of the theatre community. Obviously it clearly disparages those pursuing an artistic career, and instead pushes STEM, which seems to be more and more common today. I don't have any gripes about STEM programs--I think that anyone choosing STEM as a career is making a great choice, especially since it was never something I was able to crack in high school. But what bothers me is that in many schools, including my high school, arts are almost forgotten for STEM. At my school, anything science or engineering was heavily pushed, and a huge portion of my class were planning on pursuing it after graduation. But with this, arts and theatre were left in the dust, with art getting cut more and more and little support for theatre. We had a 900 seat auditorium, but it was almost never filled, and when it was it was very rarely filled with students from the school. And while we still put on amazing productions, it always bothered me that the school didn't recognize that and the music program more, because it would have been great to see more students and faculty at the productions.
Along with the rest of the artistic world, as well as the many commentors above me, I think that it is terrible that Wells Fargo would put out an ad disparaging the arts. I think that this represents a larger problem in society. Larger society always puts the arts, especially drama, as risky, non-lucrative, and useless as a career. However, these are the same people watching tv, going to the movies, looking at logos, and the list could go on and on. All of these things and more belong in the arts as successful and fulfilling careers. There also isn’t just one way to get into the so called “more stable careers”. Many people who have majored in the arts have found their way into a variety of careers, all valuable. So don’t say that a girl should become an engineer instead of a ballerina. She should be able to explore anything she wants to and one should have faith that someone who loves what they do will find the stability parents so often desire for their children.
Growing up in a family where literally no one is in the arts, seeing things like this kind of stings. Everyone else in my family does engineering, or is a math professor or something "sensible" like that. And for me, I basically didn't think it was possible to actually go into the arts until my senior year of high school. I kept opting out for things that my family would accept more. I would say, hmm, maybe architecture, or maybe graphic design, since those are still artistic, but you can go work in a corporate setting. But it never felt right. Until my parents visited BU, and here, they never saw that it may be possible to succeed in the arts. When my dad, an engineer, saw the drafting and models that go into scenic design, thats when he finally decided this was an actual career. So when an ad like this is put out it even further reinforces the ideas in young peoples' brains, and probably their parents too, that the arts will get you no where, and that's just not true. Life is too short to pursue something you don't really care about just to please your parents or just to make a ton of money.
And even sometimes I joke about it, but I know it's the way I was raised biting me in the butt. But I have to remind myself that its important to not joke around about that kind of stuff, because we've all made tough choices and fought against family members and values to risk it all and put our hard work and time into the arts.
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