Click Here to Subsribe to the 'Keeping it Real with the Boss' Feed I recently visited the city where I first taught English in China. I was suprised to find the photo of a foreign teacher, who had worked at the school three years earlier, still featured on colorful advertisements which were plastered on billboards and bus stops throughout the city. When I stopped in to visit the school, my old boss told me that soon they would be taking those ‘old’ advertisements down and replacing them with new ones featuring me. That was a surprise. I had not taught at the school in two years. I did, however, distinctly remember being photographed for an advertisement. I had been called down from a class on that day to pose with students in front of the school fountain; but I had never seen the result of the ‘photo shoot’.
Some foreign teachers in China refuse to be photographed or videotaped for school advertisements. These defiant teachers complain that they are being ‘used’ by the school unfairly; they say that being asked to appear in advertising is an insult to their teaching profession. The school will usually give in, not wanting to force their teachers to do something against their will, but such a refusal can damage the relationship between the foreign teacher and the administration.
I laugh when I hear foreign teachers nobly refusing to appear in advertisements on the basis that they are being ‘used’ by the school. Not only have I appeared in various brochures and television advertisements, I have even spent some time in city parks handing out school paraphenalia with my colleagues. After all, the school did not hire me because I have a teaching degree. I did not have one. The school did not hire me because of my vast experience. I did not have much. My hiring was simply a good business decision. My blonde hair and blue eyes would be an effective marketing tool that would attract a lot of attention to their English program. If I did happen to be a good English teacher, that would just be ‘icing on the cake.’
Do not fool yourself. From the moment that you put your name on an ESL teaching contract, you are being ‘used’ by the school. In many cities, foreign teachers receive ten times the amount that their Chinese colleagues receive. Of course it is expected that the school can use your ‘image’ to help bring in more students. If you have a problem with being used in this manner, you should never have signed the contract.
What is so bad about being used in school advertising? I really see no harm in it. As long as the school is either 1). asking me to participate in advertising during my regular work hours or 2). paying me extra for after work hours, I am usually more than willing to help. A Chinese school is like any other business; effective advertising is the key to its success. The only reason that you should not participate in advertising campaigns is if you honestly believe that the school does not provide a good environment for students. If you do not believe in the product yourself, then you have bigger problems on your hands.
Being a good representative of an English school is just as important as being a good teacher. You have to learn how to ‘play your part’ in China. I do not mean to say that all schools in China are completely unconcerned about your teaching abilities and qualifications. I am only suggesting that as a foreign teacher in China, you are expected at times to be the face of the school. Do not resent this role; have fun with it. Being a team player will help you to have a better relationship with the boss.
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advertising is one thing but propagating racist notions about what it means to be an english speaker is whack. people get turned down for teaching opportunities for their race. not all white people speak english.
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i have already accepted the fact that advertising (photos posted on the walls of schools and on flyers) is a part on the job i have accepted…but what i think is unfair is the fact that even you are no longer teaching in that school they will still be using your name and photos. i know an american who’s not teaching in mt school anymore but because of the fact that he is an american in the first place,the school is still using his name and photos…i am even thinking of informing him of this…
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@Kayte,
Thanks for your comments .I guess I simply don’t see anything wrong with a school using your name and photos even after you have left. My first school in China created a small wall with pictures and names of teachers near the entrance that had worked at the school over the years. As a new foreign teacher, it was almost comforting to look at ‘all those happy faces’ and realize that if they were able to survive at the school, so could I. And, it was also something the school was proud of which I can completely understand.
Maybe using a teacher’s photograph on billboards around a city even months after he or she has left is taking it too far but again, what harm does it cause? Unless you are working in that same city but for a different school, I just don’t see what the big problem would be.
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I don’t mind having my photo or writing used for advertising, but some schools or agencies can be positively deceptive about their methods for obtaining this material, and there is no guarantee that the finished advertising product will be effective or even tasteful.
Last term, my agency had subbed me out to a second “client agency,” who then hired me out to several kindergartens over the course of the term.
Before the term began, a staff person from the client agency asked me to write an intro detailing my personality and my teaching philosophy, supposedly for internal use at the agency. She said the assistants and the Chinese teachers want to know more about the foreign teachers, and the intro was for this purpose.
After I wrote the intro, the staff person asked me for a photo. I sent one of my personal photos, and she refused it, saying it was not “professional” enough. told her I would not make a “professional” photo for such a trivial purpose, and they could use the one I sent, or not have a photo.
A couple weeks later, I happened to notice on the wall by the sidewalk in front of one of my kindergartens, a terribly edited version of my intro and a crazy-looking picture of me from a class session.
In the greater context of the original photo, I was playing a rather physical game with the kids. In the smaller context of the portion they used (a badly cropped close-up of my flushed and sweaty face,) I looked like a crazed murderer fleeing from police pursuit.
Nobody ever asked me if any of this was ok, and the staff lied to me in order to get the information. The worst part of it was that whoever was in charge of composing the ad had no idea how to do it, no business even trying.
Now my image and some weird, senseless version of my writing is on that wall for good.
While I don’t think being ‘used’ for advertising is bad, I would caution teachers to be on the lookout for it and make sure they get their say in -how- they are presented to the public, because apparently not all schools have the ability to present their images tastefully.
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Laoshi Reply:
November 14th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Hey Jimmy,
What an unfortunate experience.
Chinese deception is a problem and expats are suppose to accept this as normal behavior? I don’t buy it. The Chinese need understand my culture as I am expected to understand their’s. I am not in the Middle Kingdom to change the country but enough is enough. I hope all is well with you.
Take care….
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The Chinese are great deceivers when it comes to using one’s image/photo for advertising. A university where I was teaching invited myself and two German teachers, who spoke English, to what we thought was going to be an interview by a local TV station about our Chinese experience. We were new to the country.
We met the TV crew in the Student Union office, then were led to the north court yard. While sitting on a bench, three female students joined us carrying newspapers. The students were studying English and German. They told us to hold the newspapers and they would look as if they are helping us read Chinese, per the instructions of the TV reporter. Now, our suspicions was getting the best of us.
There we sat as photos were taken. Confused, the German teachers were asking me, “What is going on?”. “Your guess is as good as mine, I replied.” The students and TV crew made not quarms about what was going on. We were dismissed after 20 minutes. What just happened?
Not more than 2 days after this incident took place, an expat friend said he saw my and two other foreign teacher’s photo on a city bus. It was an advertisement for a Real Estate company.
Unbelieveable but very Chinese. This sort of deception is common in China. I’ve been in China for 4 years and are skeptical when asked by Chinese colleagues to do anything outside school work. Expats beware.
Man zou…
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