I regret to write this review. I find it unfortunate that I have to, but for the safety of other…read morepeople looking into this company, please read this first.
I attended an Agency Crawl with Nazareth University, put together by the AAFGR. Ferdinand Jay was the one giving us the tour. I unfortunately had a very poor experience. Within the first 5 minutes of the agency crawl, he had already made a few racist comments about where I come from (South Korea), I quote, "I would not recommend going to Seoul. I hated the food, and they ate dogs for lunch."
Not even a minute after that, moving onto the next room, we stopped in the hallway and immediately asked me where I was from. While that's typically a neutral question and not really alarming, it was inappropriate for him to ask in this case, especially given the circumstances. Even after I said I was from South Korea, he kept telling me how much he hated the food.
He then later asked when I plan to go back to South Korea. This question came out of nowhere and was irrelevant to the agency crawl.
Another instance happened while we were sitting in the studio. There was a normal conversation, him discussing what was happening, and then he locked eyes with me, and blurted out, "What do you think, Miss South Korea?"
A separate comment he made was less racially driven, but rather more creepy and disgusting. This was still early on in the tour, he said something along the lines of him loving Naz girls, "I dated a lot of Naz girls, I married a Naz girl." Quite inappropriate and unprofessional.
I loved a lot of the work that was shown during this agency crawl; however, there was no professionalism right from the start, and this experience has left a permanent imprint on me. I feel humiliated, disgusted, and disturbed by what happened, and I felt the need to call off work later that day.
I don't blame the staff or anyone for what happened, other than the man himself. Other than that, the work you guys have done is amazing. I'm sorry that he was the one who had to represent this company. At the end of the crawl, in the meeting room, the staff closed it off with the professionalism that should've been there right from the start.
I was 1 of 2 Asians who attended this agency crawl, but I was unfortunately the one getting the blunt end of it all. I'm glad the other girl is okay, as I had checked up on her a couple of times.
While he did send out an apology, sometimes an apology just isn't enough when it comes to racial discrimination and harassment.
The President of AAFGR took the news very seriously, and Jay Advertising will not be included in future tours. He offered to have Nazareth students return to the agency, but the professor who came with us let him know that we felt it was best to decline. The professor has also Center for Life's Work at Naz and will not be placing students in internships at Jay even if they become available.