I have been unemployed for 7 or 8 months now in a very competetive job market- the entertainment/media industry. I do a lot of radio work, audio production for video, TV, etc. and lots of voice-overs. (For those curious www.everyonesvoice.com is my site). I'm lucky in that my wife has a stable job with health insurance but we are just barely squeaking by.
So, imagine my happiness when I got a call last month from someone offering me a temp. job that might become permanent, he wasn't sure. I was cool with that though- I do a lot of temp work these days, mostly freelancing. It helps that I have my own studio to work from. Of course, the money is rarely good and you end up working for a lot of crackpots, but it's better than having yet another entertainmentcareers.net bill bounce and have my bank charge me an insufficient funds fee.
However, all was not quite what it seemed-
At first, this sounded exactly like the sort of job I would love. He's producing an independent internet radio show. He wants to do comedy sketches, joke songs, make it a whole lot of fun.
Sounded great. I've always wanted to do a comedy radio show, having grown up listening to the Firesign Theatre, the Goons, Bob and Ray, etc.
Then, he hits me with the big 50-ton weight: his group was producing the show for a corporation which I will not name to improve their currently not-so-shiny image. They wanted people to view their corporation as something that was fun and fresh and witty.
However, this corporation is personally responsible for all sorts of health problems in this country. This is a corporation I personally find totally reprehensible.
So... what did I do? My own little bit of protest. I told him not only would I not take the job, but if they did get this project off the ground, I would be the first one getting a letter campaign going to boycott the company and bring the show down. After a small, heated argument with him, I checked the website for this upcoming show and saw that it was exactly what I thought it was going to be- propaganda of the worst order.
This morning, I was e-mailing a friend of mine I hadn't talked to in a while about the whole experience and I went back to check their website to see how it was going.
The website had vanished as had the website of the marketing company behind this which had contacted me. I assume the whole project is now a bust.
I'm not sure if I helped do it, but I think I might have. It doesn't hurt to ever spread a little dissent when you have the opportunity. Sure, I might not have changed the world, but at least I helped stop one bad deed from happening and what more can any of us hope for?
They like to think we're desperate, that we'll do anything they want us to if they wave money under our noses. That has stopped with me. I will no longer do whatever is asked of me for money. I will not be a part of this sort of propaganda machine.
UPDATE: Wow, I go away for a little bit to send off some resumes and I come back and this is in the top recommended spot! Gosh, you guys are the best ever. Thanks for everything.