How ‘Love Our Work’ Is Building a More Honest Industry
Nobody is perfect. This is something we learn pretty quickly growing up. As a child when we make a mistake or have an accident, someone - whether it be a parent, a sibling, or a teacher - will utter the words, ‘nobody is perfect.’
Yet somewhere along the way we forget that. We become harsh on ourselves, expecting bigger and better things. By no means is this a terrible thing, so long as we remember to give ourselves and the people around us the same grace that we would desire for ourselves.
There is a balance to be found in between the critical and the kind, like there is a balance to be found between all things good and bad. When that balance is lost, that is when we become mean and cold hearted.
Within the advertising and media industry that balance between the negative and positive has been out of whack for some time now. And the result has been a long term trend of negativity towards the industry that feels almost impossible to reverse.
From anonymous comments that are rude, mean and hurtful in the name of ‘being critical’, to not having an understanding of mental health and burnout culture, the industry is finding itself losing talent and clients.
It must be stressed that this negativity isn’t coming from the majority, but rather from those with the loudest voices - enabled by a dominant online culture that promotes outrage over nuance.
Jasmin and Jeremy released a survey titled ‘Drop The Shade’, in an attempt to understand what fuels this negativity and how best to combat it. Yesterday, they released their findings along with a charter called “Love Our Work” and the findings are incredibly insightful. The findings can be found here.
“It really did start for me with the toxicity from the comments on a certain platform, and my creatives taking it to heart. And it was starting to have a negative impact on me, as well. Then I saw what Jasmin went through with Fck The Cupcakes. So that’s where Drop The Shade and Love Our Work started” stated Jeremy on why he partnered with Jasmin on this particular endeavour.
While Jasmin spoke on the necessary steps taken in order to prepare her team of creatives for the launch of a new campaign, particularly after the vulgar comments, emails and ‘feedback’ given at the time of the lastest Fck The Cupcakes launch.
“I’ve seen a barrage of people making it their duty to ‘take down’ certain agencies and certain people working within this industry in the name of giving feedback, but in reality it has always been just horrid comments. I’ve always thought it was just vile.” she said.
From the Drop The Shade survey, it became clear that the one thing people want most is honesty. To be honest is to be brave, to proudly stand behind a comment with your name attached and to be open to a discussion that will follow is where the magic lies. Those discussions are how people learn more about craft, and where passions are set on fire.
“We want discourse, and people are craving introspective and proper editorial on how things came about. We are a curious industry, but at the same time people don’t want this binary, anonymous, negative slashing of everyone,” said Jasmin.
“I don’t understand why it has become commonplace to build and retain a tough skin, we all have to give feedback and we all have to receive it. It is in the way in which we conduct ourselves when feedback is shared, the way we speak and the works we use that needs to change and when they do change, it is for the betterment of everyone.” Jeremy noted.
It is important to note that Drop The Shade and Love Our Work isn’t about being overly positive to the point of no return, it is about opening up discussions, levelling the playing field and providing feedback on work that is critical and constructive. When speaking to Jasmin and Jeremy, they both shared this understanding. They mentioned a future of Love Our Work that will provide resources and education to improve the way feedback is handled, along with mental health and burnout advice.
In a sense, this isn’t anything new. In fact, it speaks to an issue that the industry has been trying to combat for a while now. Jasmin and Jeremy have been brave enough to stand up and say “the rivalry has to stop.”
To believe in an industry that can thrive on positivity to win clients and create good work that can be taken into discussions, picked apart, and put back together again all in the name of bettering craft is an astounding thing.
Jasmin and Jeremy have started paving a path that leads to an ideal version of this industry, and have been brave enough to be honest and remind everyone that nobody is perfect.
