Intent & political correctness at The Marketing Pool.

I once had this boss, Bill Hemming, in a boutique agency called The Marketing Pool. The Marketing Pool was the first BTL agency in Melbourne and continued to develop campaigns for blue chip clients for another 30 years. Out of university, I landed the best job ever.

When I think about how great it was working for Bill at The Marketing Pool, I think, we as society have taken political correctness too far. I have no doubt that, if I worked for him today, every morning Bill would say “Morning Glenn, How’s the AIDS?” and laugh his arse off.  I too would think this was the funniest thing in the world because I would realise, Bill’s intention was quite noble.  In his own, special way, Bill would be taking the stigma out of me being HIV+, rather than the opposite.  It would be his way of saying, “Sucks you have HIV mate, but none of us here care, so you are good to go”.  I would even go further and suggest that he would be implying “If anyone gives you a hard time, let me know and I’ll deal with it”.  I could be wrong, but I’m confident I completely understood the man’s intent. 

The thing is, Bill wasn’t very PC, neither was The Marketing Pool.  Bill rarely sat at his desk because he was always running round causing trouble and having a laugh with someone in the office.  But when he was, he was sitting there watching porn.  He didn’t even bother closing the door to his office, just sitting there, watching "two girls, one cup", or something else, left of center.

Famously, during a job interview, Bill Hemming reached over to Annabelle Johnstone, another company director.  He said “This is Annabelle, our HR Manager” then he grabbed her left breast and tweaked her nipple.  I suppose it was a good introduction into what to expect working in the business for the job applicant.  Annabelle thought it was funny, the job applicant found the humor in the situation, and we all had a laugh about it when the story was retold at every team get together. 

In the middle of the office were these spiral stairs.  I set up my desk at the top of the stairs.  There was this awesome loft space that was previously storage.  I asked Bill if I could move my office up there, and, as you would expect, he said “Yeh mate, do whatever you want”.  Best Boss in the world.

Anyway, this one time, one of the staff made her way from the top of the stairs to the bottom. She was in a feral mood and was one of those people who inflicted their mood onto everyone else.  Anyway, Bill says to her “I thought you were going to slide down the rail of the stairs, but then I realised, you’re so dry you’d get stuck halfway”. 

This staff member hated Bill for this comment.  She took it so personally and still talks about it 10 years later.  She was deeply offended and, although she laughed it off at the time, bad mood aside, she was never going to feel the “team” vibe of the company again. 

It wasn’t just this one time, the thing with Bill was that he often got it wrong.  I remember when we were looking for a new Account Manager and Bill and Annabelle were in agreement that we “needed a good WOG who would work hard, and they wouldn’t need to pay them much”.  If you knew these people you would quickly understand that no hatred or offence was intended.  They just had great experiences hiring people with European backgrounds in the past.  I remember thinking, “Wow, I would consider myself a WOG, I wonder if they think that about me too?”. 

Knowing Bill and Annabelle, the key was not to think about it too much and move on.  Both of their intentions were always in the right place.  It’s for this reason, I think he may have retired by now, yet I would stand beside Bill Hemming today and tell someone offended by his antics to “get over it”.  Although Bill is an extreme example, isn’t it the intent behind someone’s comments that really matters?  With the girl coming down the stairs, Bill was simply trying to lighten the mood for everyone and change the vibe to fun and laughter.  Whilst it would be better if it didn’t happen at people’s expense, Bill could take it as much as he gave it.  He encouraged people to make him the butt of their jokes.  Bill believed all jokes were funny, and I am on “team Bill” with that one.

There is a fine line between Intent & political correctness. A guy like Bill only operated with good intentions and with love, so that made all of his jokes funny.  I was the employee on the rise and regrettably, eventually resigned my position at The Marketing Pool.  Not because of Bill’s jokes, funnily enough, it was because of the vibe created by the employee that refused to put themselves in Bill's shoes and see his intent. The Marketing Pool lost a star employee, not because of Bill's intent, his political correctness, or his humor, but because the mood in the office was so heavily impacted by the girl lacking empathy, who couldn’t take a joke.

Glenn Hall is a former advertising executive turned freelance communications consultant. Glenn has a fresh perspective on topical issues and a unique way of viewing the world.   With diverse interests, no topic is out of reach and Glenn will be sure to challenge your thinking.