Notes From The Only Man To Die Of Trench Foot In The Media War

July 13, 2012 4:26 PM

Notes From The Only Man To Die Of Trench Foot In The Media War by Douglas Haddow "If you want to be a freelance writer and maintain a marginally civilized lifestyle, it’s best to keep cozy with anyone who can facilitate the transfer of funds into your wallet. Part-time prostitution is a good gig if you can pick your clients and fetch a decent rate, otherwise, it pays dividends to maintain copywriting credentials and occasionally dip your pen in the company ink."
posted by hoodrich (13 comments total)

I'm former freelance writer who now earns a good living as a marketing copywriter.

With that out of the way, I gotta say this Haddow fellow tries a little too hard. He does remind me of a friend of mine who earned a good living as a freelancer until the last year or so, and has fallen on hard times. He doesn't really have the flexible sort of personality to be successful in an agency environment, though.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:32 PM on July 13, 2012

I hope that green-to-red gradient background isn't a thing we're going to see more of.
posted by gurple at 4:33 PM on July 13, 2012

I hope that green-to-red gradient background isn't a thing we're going to see more of.

From the essay ;)

It was a merciless bloodbath, a thief’s paradise, a syphilitic orgy of ugliness.

posted by Celsius1414 at 4:42 PM on July 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

...many adpeople have alienated themselves from the implications of their work, and are in danger of becoming neoliberalism’s useful idiots.

In danger? Most people I've known in advertising are in deep (but entertaining) denial as a prerequisite for their jobs.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:46 PM on July 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

That guy sure is impressed with his own writing style.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:50 PM on July 13, 2012 [4 favorites]

Currently I am researching keywords to be used as an adwords campaign for a coastal marine-planning non-profit operated by a council of First Nations ("Indians" to Americans, I guess). Tell me how this is bad.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:50 PM on July 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Brutal.
posted by wuwei at 5:02 PM on July 13, 2012

...operated by a council of First Nations ("Indians" to Americans, I guess). Tell me how this is bad.

It's not.

Similarly, not all Americans say "Indians".

The two assumptions are probably equally valid. Ballpark, anyway.
posted by gurple at 5:06 PM on July 13, 2012

A young guy, he was spearheading a new experimental digital division at one of those conglomerates with nothing but consonants for a name

Damn that's me! (the copy, not the asshole)
posted by elpapacito at 5:28 PM on July 13, 2012

Too red, didn't read.
posted by bswinburn at 5:44 PM on July 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

...dip your pen in the company ink

ewww
posted by the noob at 7:41 PM on July 13, 2012

The writing may be a little florid, but having worked in some of the big NYC ad firms: He is dead-on about the ad exec's incredibly annoying addiction to vapid buzzwords, and the creeping totalitarianism of same. Every time I hear an exec with expensively mussed hair burble about taking over "social", I imagine the future as a boot imprinting its logo on an enthusiastic-to-be-imprinted human face, forever.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 9:57 PM on July 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

It started out weak, but got better. I had a couple of loud guffaws for a saturday morning. Funny stuff.
posted by Thistledown at 5:40 AM on July 14, 2012