Many find this Griffith College billboard offensive

A billboard ad for Griffith College has been refused by multiple advertising agencies.

The ad slogan reads: People only take pride in jobs they love. One side of the poster appears to be peeling. “The message behind the campaign is that people should be in careers that they love,” a spokesperson from Griffith College told The Journal. “The use of outdoor advertising is key for us to communicate with our audience and to catch their attention on their commute.”

Saw this @Griffithcollege billboard earlier & it made me think, love what you do. Going to finally make a new video. pic.twitter.com/ZVKd0mc42S

— Stephen Byrne (@stephenbyrne) September 6, 2016

Clear Channel, Exterion and JCDecaux see it differently and feel that the ad is offensive to their workers and implies that their work is sloppy. Commercial director of JCDecaux Pat Mannion commented on the ads saying, “Unfortunately, I don’t think it reflects our industry in a very favourable light and I wouldn’t be happy for this design to run on JCDecaux billboards.”

.@griffithcollege Very controversial poster!!! Touch of the @Ryanair #Gorillamarketing there! ? it. https://t.co/uJkCL4bYLg — Rhona OConnor (@rhona_o) September 10, 2016

His sentiment was echoed in a comment from Chief operations officer at Clear Channel Declan O’Carroll. Again, according to The Journal, the Association of Advertisers in Ireland agree with the agencies’ decision to refuse the ads. “It would denigrate their business. It could easily come across as a mistake in the posting of the creativity resulting in unnecessary criticism of the industry.”

Our Griffith College campaign was refused by #OOH providers. What do you think? https://t.co/BAodGsGZW6 #advertising pic.twitter.com/MnH5WoxQ80

— ZenithOptimedia (@zenithireland) September 10, 2016

“Whilst it is a nice idea, I don’t think that the advertiser and/or agency thought it through and planned for these consequences – maybe they should have approached the outdoor people in advance to see if they were comfortable with it before incurring the production costs,” said CEO Barry Dooley. What do you think of the ads message?

Image via Stephen Byrne.