Fear of Restraint

Our commencement speaker last week was Keith Reinhard, the head of DDB Worldwide. He was incredibly entertaining and gave an amazingly honest and inspirational speech that hit home with a bunch of 20 somethings who had just finished the Adcenter.

The part that hit home the most for me was when he talked about "the fear of restraint." He told us that we, as advertisers, have the power to influence the world and shape its culture. There will always be the chance to make a campaign that says something trivial or raunchy. There will always be the chance to make something funny just because it's funny, even when you are risking damage on the moral character of society.

He told us that this is the easy way out. Most advertisers have a fear of restraint. They let their laziness take a hold of them, and they stop trying to make something great, and instead make something raunchy or offensive.

Just like any other fear, the only way to continue is to face it and run through it. He told us to always face our fear of restraint head on, and to never be lazy. This is what we, as the next generation of advertisers, must do. As our society's morals dwindle year by year, and music videos become less like works of art and more like soft-core pornography, we as advertisers have the chance to help out the world by saying something meaningful and inspirational.

We hold a powerful tool in our hands. Use it wisely.