In case you weren’t already painfully aware, the advertising industry is run almost entirely by leftists, so it should come as no surprise that various ad agencies have been announcing to the world that they are openly hostile to the new Republican administration. One such company, San Francisco-based Traction, has taken its anti-Trump stance even further, recently implementing what the agency calls “Days of Action,” paid leave for employees who want to get out and make a difference (by “resisting” Trump, of course).
Traction CEO Adam Kleinberg touted the new pro-activism policy in an opinion piece on the agency’s website. Kleinberg makes clear from the start that the “Days of Action” policy was created “in response to the increasing trend of budget cuts and divisive political discourse under the Trump administration.”
“This policy encourages employees to take up to two paid days each year to contribute to the greater good,” explains Kleinberg. “We are giving all employees two days of paid leave per year to participate in our democracy—however they see fit.”
Though employees can supposedly choose whatever form of activism for whatever cause they “see fit,” Kleinberg makes clear what he has in mind by “greater good,” offering a few examples: “They can march on Washington, volunteer at Planned Parenthood or some other organization that had its funding cut off or be a poll worker.”
Among the examples of proper “activism” suggested in the article are pictures from the Women’s March, including women holding the American flag hijab posters (like the one below), and an aerial shot of that silly “RESIST!!” Trump protest on a random beach.
Kleinberg goes on to detail his rationale for encouraging his employees to promote various leftist causes:
As I related in this morning’s MediaPost story, “Traction Gives Employees Paid Leave For Activism,” after the election people who voted against Trump were publicly mourning all over their social feeds. We wanted to take a minute and be thoughtful about how we responded—and we wanted to put our money where our mouth is.
Under the Trump administration, proposed cuts will dramatically impact funding to a wide range of organizations including Planned Parenthood, National Endowment for the Arts, and Global Climate Change Initiative.
The CEO notes that he was partly inspired by Barack Obama’s call to “Show up. Dive in. Perservere.”
Kleinberg emphasizes that his employees really can participate in any form of activism, regardless of political views, explaining that they were careful to craft the policy to be nondiscriminatory and thus legal. “It would be hypocritical to introduce a program that was discriminatory against anyone because of their beliefs,” he writes.
Kleinberg ends the piece by urging other companies to adopt the same activist policies:
It’s our sincere hope that we can share what we are doing and inspire other like-minded companies to do the same. We are publicizing this because we see the opportunity to create a movement. We’d love to see our two Days of Action at Traction become two million Days of Action across the country.