Dear Flipside Media...

Dear Flipside Media,

                                        I am writing to discuss the contractual, legal and ethical issues with your recent job advertisement. This letter will explain in detail the issues with your current job advertisement.

I’d like to turn your attention to the definition of some words and then I’ll begin pointing out the issues I have found. A contract is a signed legal document that concerns employment and is intended to be enforceable by law. A confidentiality clause is a paragraph within a contract that allows information on trade and business to keep confidential and not to be passed on to people that do not work in the company; an exclusivity clause states that an employee can work only with the company and cannot do ‘Freelance’ work for other studios.

In the criteria at the top of your advertisement, I noticed that there are very specific details that don’t comply with The Equality Act 2010. The Equality Act states that you cannot ask for someone to be under a certain age, this is discrimination. I’ve also noticed that the ‘Salary’ is extremely open and could potentially fall under the Equal Pay Act 1970. You absolutely cannot pay someone more or less if they are doing the same job as the previous employee. I also notice that you are asking for a Christian employee as your company is forwarding the idea of Christianity to young people; this also falls under the Equality Act and is not allowed to be stated in your advertisement.

Trade unions exist to protect the rights and interests of workers, but you will have to be a member of a union to get the benefits. An example of a Trade Union is BECTU; BECTU has a freelance membership and it will set you back £10 a month.

In the proposition for your video, I saw that you wanted to show a date rape campaign video to children at a high school; this is not possible as this is an Ethical issue and will not comply with the Codes of Practice. I’ve also spotted that you want to interview victims and re-enactments!? I have no idea how you we’re planning to do that but it also does not comply with codes of practice! This brings up my final point on Ethical Issues, representation; displaying teenagers as the offender/victim gives a bad image to a certain demographic, this will further the bad image on teenagers and will bring about social concerns.

And finally, Legal Issues. I assume that you will have under 18’s play the talent in your production and this brings up several issues. Firstly, under 18’s are protected by Ofcom (a regulatory body) “protecting the under-eighteens” and “harm and offence” are regulated by Ofcom. Ofcom exists because of the Communications act 2003, the information is listed on the Ofcom website –

 “Ofcom operates under a number of Acts of Parliament, including in particular the Communications Act 2003. Ofcom must act within the powers and duties set for it by Parliament in legislation.

The Communications Act says that Ofcom’s principal duty is to further the interests of citizens and of consumers, where appropriate by promoting competition. Meeting this duty is at the heart of everything we do.”

I also think that the video would likely be rated 15. I’ve looked over the BBFC rating system and I’ve found that 15 is the perfect rating for this video as it meets most, if not all of the criteria.

•   strong violence
•  frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
•   portrayals of sexual activity
•   strong verbal references to sex
•   sexual nudity
•   brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
•   discriminatory language or behaviour

I suggest that you use a popular royalty free track to prevent any legal issues regarding the intellectual property law. Choose a track that a younger generation are in to and perhaps would fit well with the theme of your video.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter, I hope that you re-think your advertisement wording and perhaps even rectify the issues.

Yours sincerely

Jack Hunt