The intention may be noble, but the message is offensive.
Transient Workers Count Too, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving conditions for low-wage migrant workers, has kicked off its “I Give A Day Off” campaign with a disastrous video entitled “Mums and Maids”.
In the video, mothers are asked a series of questions about their child: what did she have for breakfast? What does he want to be when he grows up? Does she have a crush on anyone in school? They ask domestic helpers the same thing. To find out the truth, they ask the child.
No surprise, the parents fudged and gave the wrong answers, while the maids got it right. Sad, yes. But in no way a reflection of poor parenting, particularly if the parent needs to hold a job to pay for the bills.
“Shouldn’t we spend more time with our children,” the video asks. “Let’s give domestic workers their legal days off.”
Uhm, yes and no.
Yes, you should spend more time with your child. No, you shouldn’t give your child’s nanny a day off because you feel that your relationship with your chlid is being threatened. That would be immature and thoughtless.
The patronizing video was produced by Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific and meant to ignite a debate.
“We focused the creative strategy on tapping into modern parents’ fear of missing out. By showing how parents are losing out on their relationship with their children by always requiring their domestic worker to be around, we reposition their day off as an opportunity to enhance family bonding. We didn’t want to paralyse the audience with the enormity of an unsolvable problem,” Eugene Cheong chief creative officer of O&M, tells Marketing Interactive.
Really? You want parents to give the nanny a day off because they feel insecure? Please.
Here’s the thing, boss. You don’t give your domestic helper a day off because she’s become closer to your child than you. You don’t give her a day off as a reward for looking after your child while doing the laundry, keeping house and cooking your dinner. You don’t give her a day off because she’s the first one to wake up and the last one to sleep.
Domestic helpers get days off because it is their right. How hard is that to communicate?
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