My doctor, my driver
The most eye-catching feature at the International Advertising Association congress was a display of cause-related adverts in the central atrium of DIEC. They contained images such as a paleface in a glittering diamond necklace; next to her a dark-skinned woman with a gash of blood around her neck - "quel prix pour ces diamantes?" Or a hollow-eyed baby on a white sheet, shown dead in the next shot. The world is tranformed into a melting scoop of blue and green icecream in a global warming ad. In another, a map of Africa is transformed into a skull.
According to the organiser of the exhibition, the labourers that put up the displays were very drawn to the ads. One series in particular particularly grabbed the attention of the boys-in-blue. What did it show?
1. A taxi driver's photo ID card hanging in the back of a cab. His name: Dr Khalid Rafiq, PhD.
2. A supermarket job application form, filled out in biro. The applicant: Dr Rajiv Suri, former cardiologist at a heart hospital in India.
3. A fast-food worker's name tag. It reads: Mei Yin, MBA.
According to the organiser of the exhibition, the labourers that put up the displays were very drawn to the ads. One series in particular particularly grabbed the attention of the boys-in-blue. What did it show?
1. A taxi driver's photo ID card hanging in the back of a cab. His name: Dr Khalid Rafiq, PhD.
2. A supermarket job application form, filled out in biro. The applicant: Dr Rajiv Suri, former cardiologist at a heart hospital in India.
3. A fast-food worker's name tag. It reads: Mei Yin, MBA.
Labels: labourers
9 Comments:
Those are some extremely moving ads. I wish some of the Dubai marketing companies would be a bit more creative. Then again, I doubt most of their target audience would be able to "get it".
But as for the underemployed people, I guess thats one of the problems of an oversupply of qualified people in developing countries.
A friend of mine in Singapore has a maid who was a doctor in the Phillipines but worked as a housemaid in Singapore because she would get paid more than back home. I guess when supporting a family back home, people are forced to swallow their pride and work in menial jobs. And servants in Singapore are treated the same way they are in the UAE.
I work in the industry... the people here are alot more sophisticated than you give them credit for. They will get it.
I have noticed in UAE, employers prefer the less educated, more experience rather than the reverse. I understand certain amount of experience is needed, however most are only willing to hire somebody who would not "come up with new idea" but who has done the same job for 10 years or so. This gives fresh graduates quite a dilemma. Is this phenonmenon found in anyother countries?
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Another ad which might be in the offing could be 'call center careers'. Getting a job is extremely easy and most graduate engineers often join immediately after graduation. 5 years down the line, the resume reads nothing but 5 years of smooth talking on the phone. Till then it's been an extension of college life. Lack of dress codes and business ethics can be enticing at first but who needs tomorrow?
Yes Krishna, they want people who don't think out of the box. Because of the simple fact that these freshers may jeopardize their job. Thats also why specialised entities such as 'The Sales Engineer' spring up, who are localised con jobs in the making. Which may also explain why call centres are teeming with engineers.
It's not always that there is an oversupply of qualified people.
Read the Campaign Name in the links that SD provides. It says: "Recognise Immigrant Credentials."
The bigger issue which these ads are drawing attention to, is that a lot of the qualifications that people earn in their home countries aren't recognised in other countries - i.e. their degree is as worthless as the paper it's printed on.
Some countries do have programs in place that requires expatriate workers (especially in the medical fields) to sit a series of exams and courses to prove their experience. But this costs a lot of money, and often the immigrant workers don't have enough to do it when they first arrive. So they take lesser skilled jobs as they try to survive and save. Often, it takes so long that in the end they stay in that job.
And even more often, they don't have the choice to work in their chosen fields.
If they're studying in unrecognised world institutions, the students studying in the UAE universities may also face these issues if they choose to work out of the UAE.
Hdastoor, it's pointless to talk about ads and their targets. The rich guys don't read newspapers, let alone listen to the radio. The middle class is more interested in Robbie Williams/Now you see - now you don't e-pehla channels/devising ways to stay on in that Deira apartment by increasing 'bed spacers'. The lower class are busy counting every fil which goes out rather than in.
Which ads that work? Hoardings. From Emirates to Etihad to ADCB to Dubai Islamic Bank. They'll bore through your eyes even if you choose not to look. Why? Because of the sheer number of them. You even subconsciously know where Emirates flies to and for how much. Now thats called advertising by numbers!
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