Cisco TelePresence ad ticks off relief workers

By Jim Duffy on Tue, 01/29/08 - 7:29pm.

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Cisco is not making friends among relief workers with its latest TelePresence ad. Apparently Cisco has been airing this ad on TVs in some regions of a relief worker using TelePresence to catch up with his folks back home. What has the blogger and readers of humanitarian.info ticked off is the fact that Cisco chose to put "the stereotypical 'young white middle class aid worker' in the centre of the frame - instead of the people that we’re supposed to be helping." A reader responds: "I agree that CISCO has done some great stuff…providing staff to work with major relief organizations was a major shot in the arm to get those groups taking technology seriously. But ads like this perpetuate the myth of the magnificence of Western aid in a young, white, male package. Not that there are not great, young, white, men working in difficult places but how about making it about the work or the diversity of the field?"

Cisco is discovering that it's not as easy marketing to consumers as it has been marketing to network techies.

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