The “Fatima’s next job could be in cyber” ad campaign by the government has faced heavy backlash and branded “patronising”. The advert encourages “Fatima” to give up on her career and retrain in cyber.
Many critics have slammed the government for singling out the performing arts industry to “retrain” and switch careers, and after Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden labelled it as “crass” the campaign was pulled. A government official even agreed the campaign was “not appropriate”.
Paul Slaughter, a director from Subgrey productions could not contain his fury, he said: “I’ve never seen something more insulting in my life. It made me quite unhappy and quite irritated. I think it’s patronising. I think it completely demonstrates that the government is not interested in the performing arts on the local and community level.”
Musicians, actors, and all others in the performing arts industry have a right to feel aggrieved. Many rising stars, and those not on big money contracts have had to earn a living alongside their chosen career development as simply a means to an end. Waiting tables in the day, and performing by night, many think the government’s ad was a slap in the face.
Lewys Taylor, an actor who lost work and roles during lockdown, said of the campaign: “A lot of people in the performing arts have already segued into many jobs that utilise their performance skills. Jobs such as call centre operators, tour guides, children’s entertainment, roleplaying for medical examinations, bar work and many more. So, I can understand how infuriating it may be for some who have already ‘retrained’ to be told this.”
Lucy Keuieirellerl, who was set to direct and act in her first musical show before lockdown ushered it towards an abrupt cancellation, has been ‘hibernating’ during lockdown. She said: “I’ve invested too much time and effort into that career to completely drop it any time soon.”
In regards to the campaign itself Lucy said: “I think what’s offended people is the idea that arts professionals aren’t already training for and taking jobs in other sectors to make their arts career work. I don’t know a single performer, techie or creative who hasn’t done other entry-level jobs to tide them over between freelance contracts.”
Popular figures Liam Gallagher and Lily Allen have also been blasted the campaign, with Gallagher tweeting “if anyone needs to retrain it’s them shower of C**** c’mon you know LG x”.
The now infamous photograph was originally taken by Krys Alex, an Atlanta-based photographer who has today revealed that she never agreed to the government’s use of this image. The dancer in the image, is actually called Desire’e.
She said: “I woke up Monday morning to a bunch of emails and tags, and I really felt devastated. I immediately thought of Desire’e and how her face was just plastered all over social media and the internet, different news articles, and memes were created, and she had no clue. All of that really hurt me.”
“Some people questioned if I knew and if I approved the use of my work. If I’d have known that this was going to be used in the way it was, I would have never agreed to it.”
The image came from the stock site Unsplash, where pictures can be downloaded for free for commercial and non-commercial purposes.
The Fatima advertisement is one more problem that won’t go away for the government it seems.
