Since March I've been contacted by multiple (very big name) advertising agencies hoping to license Covid photos for their clients, and every instance has been unpleasant at best and offensive at worst. 1/8
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Last week a European agency asked for photos for Siemens Healthineers. They gave a lowball offer for licensed images in perpetuity with the possibility of print. When I passed, they simply responded with "would you have any chance to get into a Hospital to make some photos" 3/8
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It's absurd to ask a journalist to pop into a hospital during a global pandemic for some quick ad photos. There are ethical, moral, logistic, privacy, safety and medical concerns that should preclude anyone from thinking this flippant ask is a good idea. 4/8
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I spoke to a different executive about the Covid coverage I've been doing in Jackson Heights, Queens. They responded with an air of clueless insult and pretension, "that's so good! We often forget that Queens is even a part of NYC!" 5/8
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I've been asked for free photos. I've been given unreasonable timelines: "we are anxious to speak with you as we are looking for a very quick turn around!! (need to sort this morning)" and I've been entirely ignored by almost every agency after I provided estimates. 6/8
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So to anyone in the ad world who needs to hear this: be better, try harder. It's not a big ask to show respect for the people working in the field. This may be "content" for your billion dollar clients, but these are stories of real people going through actual devastation. 7/8
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So before you send an email filled with exclamation points and gibberish about "content" and "packages", read the room. Realize that while you're trying to sell some product, journalists are putting themselves at risk in the field to tell these stories. Please, be better. 8/8
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