The Experience Advocacy Taskforce (EAT) has launched a new website in collaboration with Affinity.
This platform, formed in 2022 by Greg Graham, aims to reframe and redress workforce ageism in the media and advertising industry and encourage agencies to value experience as part of their diversity and inclusion efforts.
Statistics from the 2023 census by the Media Federation of Australia (MFA) showed that 81% of the industry are aged below 30.
In contrast, just 13.1% are in their 40s, and 5.1% in their 50s.
Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) indicates that 62% of workers in the wider Australian workforce are over the age of 40.
“In a world of diversity and inclusion, the topic of ageism does not get nearly enough attention,” Greg Graham, founder of The Experience Advocacy Taskforce, said.
“It’s our goal, with the help of Affinity, to challenge and encourage agencies to take ageism more seriously.
“We’ve loved working with Affinity on the launch of the Experience Advocacy Taskforce. This was a fantastic team effort. They took our messaging, driven hugely by the wonderful Meredith Ansoul, scoped, did all the strategy work and built the site from the ground up.
“Our new site provides information and useful resources, and we encourage agencies to take the time to visit it to make the commitment to tackle ageism head-on.”
CEO of Affinity, Angela Smith, said the newly-positioned ‘growth accelerator’ “jumped at the chance to apply our expertise in strategy and technology to help grow the discussion around this last bastion of discrimination.”
“Somehow many people think it’s still okay to describe a professional by referencing their age with outdated euphemisms like ‘veteran’ – we all know that’s not ok for heritage, sexuality or gender. Why is it still ok for age?” she said.
“What we love about the taskforce is that they’re focused on practical and meaningful initiatives rather than the scourge of tokenism and look-at-me stunts. It was a no brainer to make an active contribution to this important movement.”