Contractual, Legal and Ethical Issues

To whom it may concern,

 Your advertisement regarding a digital video producer for the No Means No date rape campaign has various legal, ethical and contractual issues which should be altered in order to comply with the law and general morality of the company.

 Firstly, the ideals presented for a possible employee are problematic as they discriminate different age ranges, stating that the possible employee must be below the age of 30. This contradicts multiple rules regarding The Equality Act (2010), which works toward making the working environment available for people from different age ranges, cultures and physical abilities. Specifying for the potential employee to be below the age of 30 has no relevance to the task and does not abide by the guidelines stated in The Equality Act. Additionally to this, you specify that the campaign will perpetuate Christian ideals, and that the person’s religious beliefs should be a relevant factor in them getting hired.

 A campaign which focuses on shaming the act of date rape should not have any religious afflictions – religion is irrelevant to this campaign, and whilst Christian morals can be tied into the practice of date rape, it does not mean that the campaign should solely focus on that of a Christian ideal. The reasons behind making such a campaign should be to inform and educate young children – making them aware of the possible dangers involved in going out and meeting new people in casual drinking situations, mainly – not degrading and enforcing a religious lifestyle or even implying that by leading such a lifestyle it detracts the chance of encountering an act, or being a part of it. This also goes against The Equality Act (2010).

 In the brief description outlining what the campaign will consist of, you specify that the person should interview people “affected by the topic,” specifically saying “female victims and male offenders.” This is sexism, claiming that only somebody of a certain gender can commit such acts, and it also discriminates against gender-fluid people who do not wish to identify as either.

 Working in schools or with young people requires a CRB check which you have not detailed in the advertisement – this means that anyone from any criminal background can apply for this job which is extremely inappropriate and dangerous. This comes under the ethical issues attached to the job advertisements. This can involve the representation of gender, which I’ve already discussed, but also the representation of younger people as a whole. Though it is wise to warn younger people of these issues, this topic is extremely sensitive and can trigger many people who watch/take part in the campaign. The method which has been detailed of recording this is extremely obtrusive to the children’s person and can disregard rules applied by OFCOM which state that, in order to protect people below the age of 18, anything which has a possibility of being harmful for the individual must not be broadcasted. It can make people feel outcast; embarrassed; ashamed (especially if you were to turn to religion to supposedly ‘solve’ this issue – as your advertisement suggests.)

 The BBFC official rating would likely be a higher age than of the people you wish to involve with the actual creation of this campaign; perhaps 15, or even 18 depending on the visual depictions in the re-enactments.

 There’s also the issue of copyrighting, whereby you encourage the film-maker to use popular music to draw in the target audience. Unless the licence to use this music was paid for, you would be unable to use the music and it would breach copyright laws in place to protect the use of the music available online.
 Making these changes would mean your job advertisement no longer had any contractual, legal or ethical issues which could offend people reading.