Niel French apologises - kinda

Niel French apologizes , maybe, for all that kerfluffle after his talk "A night with Neil French" arranged by ihaveanidea.org in Toronto, Canada last October He says that french maid was as big of a surprise to him as it was to the audience, and:

"However to be a Creative Director in advertising requires a special kind of lunacy. A Creative Director is in charge of the welfare of the entire company, keeping wildly talented (but often weird) producers of work involved, dedicated, and willing to sweat and strain over long hours and stupid deadlines for the good of the client and the firm. And these absurd conditions occur as unpredictably as earthquakes and tsunamis but more frequently. To walk away from that responsibility would be utterly unprofessional and immediately disqualify anyone from holding the position."

I'd like to introduce French to many of my past Creative Directors, all men, who left work at 5:15 to pick up their kids from school and daycare, leaving me at the office burning the midnight oil as usual. But since that would take up too much of my precious time, I'll be content with reminding him that it's only advertising after all.

He's right that one half of the family should cut back on work to raise their offspring and that there is nothing wrong with that - my beef is that he assumes all women breed. Do all men? And if we all breed - is it really that bad to have a life outside of advertising? You know, the life that the targets we talk to actually have? Might we even understand the target better if we live like they do, instead of hanging in smoky bars with expense accounts picking up the tab? Doesn't the client have a life? I'm not saying it's wrong to be ambitious, but this isn't rocket science. We are not really changing the world, landing on mars, creating peace on earth or finding the cure for cancer here. We're flogging beer, washing powder and blue jeans. Get some perspective. What I'd really like to know is - who hired the french maid? It's a pun so bad it hurts.