Why advertising DOESN’T suck

We painstakingly take hours upon hours to explain the bad things of this industry because quite honestly, there are an endless amount of things that truly suck in this industry. But what is there that keeps us putting up with this bullshit? Why do we trudge on because it has to be something other than not feeling up to par with performing in other industries? We stay in advertising for a reason or for some reasons and here are some of mine for however much I’m thinking of dropping this bullshit job.

1.) Dress code. It’s the most trivial of things but it’s a major reason some people don’t quit this industry. For however ludicrous it might seem, the freedom most of us enjoy to wear “fuck you” t-shirts, “eat me” ball caps, and “fuck me” shoes to work is a blessing. We hate ties and suits and business apparel and though we sometimes have to dress up, execs unfortunately more often than they’d like to, we get a break to dress down, not shave and occasionally forget hygiene to a certain degree.
2.) The people we work with. Hell even if you hate someone you have to admit one thing, they’re at least interesting. Even the biggest pricks in this industry are at least entertaining in their banality and bumfuckedness. You see the boring ass people from other places and you can’t help but gag at their lameness. Want to know why? Because even the most boring people, by our industry’s standards, are persons you can at the very least make fun of.
3.) Even if it sucks, people get to see the stuff you work on. What can an accountant or a banker show for his or her efforts? Nothing. We at least can show the shitty ad we busted our skulls making even if it does blow more than a hurricane.
4.) In most agencies you can really decorate your work station. Again, another trifle bullshit reason, but you can’t help enjoy the joy a person gets when they put up a dismembered corpse with their twenty other figurines without being told a single thing.
5.) Networking. In this industry you can really network if your liver doesn’t mind the abuse. Three parties and you’ve spoken to lord knows how many company representatives and if you invited someone to a shot and told them about that time you went to Bermuda and had wild sex after gulping a bottle of Wild Turkey, then that could actually be a job offer in the making. Hell, our entire industry is pretty much an addict’s support group.
6.) Free stuff. Yes, we sometimes get nothing or crap but guess what, when’s the last time you heard of some banker really getting a great premium. Not often and if it is, you know it sucks because you or someone you know designed the shitty $1.35 premium they’re given for their efforts.
7.) Your office environment might suck, but I invite you to look within a government agency, an auditing firm, a law firm, a banks offices etc. You’ll suddenly remember why you love your office even if it lasts only a couple of instants. Yes some agencies suck in their décor, but there are a variety of interesting places to work at.
8.) Even if you say they’re incompetent, maybe if you think you’re God on the computer and every one else from every other department is an idiot, you have at least a vague idea of what everyone does at your company. And the departments that exist within it. I dare you to ask people from other industries what their coworkers do for a living.
9.) Even if people think your job is laughable, you will always have something more interesting to say about your job than most other schmucks… doctors and lawyers don’t count though since the fucked up things they see on a daily basis is not to be messed with. Well not all lawyers, and not all doctors so HAH!!!! Seriously, do you really want to know about some guy who didn’t pay his palimony or about a patient who stubbed his toe for the fourth time in a row with his own toe nail?
10.) Your industry is more lenient with your arrival time than others. For some reason, though not every company, Advertising personnel usually get cut some slack a lot more than other people. Not that you can super slack on your entry time, but hell, if you get late three times you won’t get fired from most places. Trust me I know people who haven’t even gotten memos and have never been on time a day in their lives.

Is there much that sucks about our industry? Hell yes, hence the fucking existence of this blog, but it’s not all bad all the time or at least by comparison. Do we deserve better? Some people might say so, but a wise person once told me that you get not what you deserve but what you negotiate, and if you didn’t negotiate good working conditions, then you’re screwed. Regardless though, what else can you guys think of when asked if your industry doesn’t suck?

Cheers.