This image caused so much controversy because it is implying that the government doesn’t think that the arts industry is important and that jobs within the arts industry are not as important as a job in cyber. They do this through their “Rethink. Reskill. Reboot” slogan, the ‘rethink’ in this context seems condescending and rude and implies that Fatima needs to rethink her whole life and her career because they don’t feel like it is up to their standards.

Because of this many people who are or where in the arts industry showed their outrage on social media platforms, such as Dr. Jenifer Cassidy (shown above) who clearly states her outrage towards this campaign on twitter and also hi lights the fact that there are plenty of other things that could stop Fatima’s career, such as an injury, and that the government doesn’t need to be another, patronising, thing against people like Fatima and herself. Dr. Jenifer also repeats ‘matters’ because the poster makes you feel like the government doesn’t think that the arts industry matters.

 

And injury isn’t the only problem professional dancers like Fatima will have to face according to Roger Dobson’s article on a survey of dancers in the uk (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1215583/) “16% of dancers had an eating problem in the previous 12 months and that 25% reported a problem at some point in the past. It also found that 10% of dancers had a body mass index below that recommended for good health.” Many people in Fatima’s profession have eating disorders and mental health problems and telling them to just change their career would not only make these worse, but it would show that the government do not care about the well-being of the people they are pushing to change career.

 

The poster also isn’t showing  Fatima’s opinions on this decision and is quite clearly showing that they will try to decide for her. This makes Fatima seem like, a mindless follower who the government wish to bend to their will, or a child sitting and listening to their parents make the big decisions for themselves which is again patronising and implies that people in the arts industry aren’t smart or strong enough to voice their own opinions on topics that are important.

 

Ironically this poster couldn’t have been made without the arts industry even though the government is trying to make them seem like they are quickly becoming obsolete and desperately need to change careers. The picture was taken by a professional photographer of a professional ballet dancer and the text and editing was done by a graphic designer. Who are three of the groups that the government are saying will lose their jobs as they prove that even they themselves need them just to put out their message to the British people.

 

The government also didn’t ask either Fatima or the photographer for their permission to use this image.           This further shows that they do not care of the opinions of those in the arts industry and they believe that they can do anything they want with others art/work. The ballerina is Desire'e Kelley from the Vibez in Motion Dance Studio in Atlanta and the photographer is Krys Alex an Atlanta based photographer, and the photo was posted to Instagram in august of 2017.

 

They also chose a picture of a ballet dancer that is a woman of colour for this picture which furthers the poor message that this poster presents. People of colour struggle with racism in their everyday life and with the government using this dancer they are bordering on racism with again their ignorance to the model’s opinion and choices.

 

The messages that the government send though this advert will also make less young people want to peruse a career in the arts as it will make them believe that they will have to take another job soon anyway which will demotivate them and stop them from pursuing career in the arts. It also gives people that dislike the industry validation that they are right in what they believe, which is that jobs arts are not proper jobs an age old belief that is heavily outdated now.

 

Many people in the arts industry also have what the government call a proper job to help support themselves because the government does not help businesses in the arts as much as they support computing business and the like. This is shows that the government has only paid attention to the facts that help their argument and not the truth that most people in the arts are so under appreciated that they cannot I’ve doing the thing they have sometimes dedicated their lives to.

 

Since the release of this poster the government has put together a “£1.57 billion rescue package” for the arts industry to help keep venues and businesses alive during the pandemic but this is not enough of an apology to the people they have affected with this advert.

 

In conclusion this advert was incredibly crass and damaging to the arts industry. And the government should know better than to attack a group of professionals whose jobs are some of the most important not just to the people of Britain but, weather they want to accept it, the government themselves. Maybe next time they should ‘rethink’ their ads before the publish them, ‘Reskill’ whoever came up with the idea for this poster as they clearly do not understand the importance of the arts industry and hopefully ‘reboot’ both their opinions and the opinions of many others that might see it.