However, various factors impacted your ability to take this proactive action in the first place. The very fact that your environment was also conducive to this is key; many agencies are not and that's one of the problems. Taking the personal step in and of itself is hard enough, the outside factors should not hinder the decision… alas, not always (usually) the case.

Personally, I've felt that i walked the line a few times, but think i can't say there was anything that was def against my core set of beliefs… but who knows, maybe that's the early morning koolaid talking =)

Great post.

In the end, if your heart isn't in an account…worse, you are steadfast against the account and have an ethical dilemma with it, you won't do your best work and the client won't get what they signed on for. It's inevitable. Very few can put such beliefs aside to work on clients like this.

Kudos to you.

Thanks for sharing,

Tom
@TomOKeefe1

Definitely think you did the right thing. There's no difference between choosing not to work on a particular client to choosing not to work in a particular industry because it goes against what you stand for.

The underlying lesson is that all young professionals, no matter what industry, should have the ability to approach their managers regarding such sensitive issues. Even more so in PR/Communications due to the nature of our work and what we are sometimes required or expected to achieve.

Kudos to your employers for allowing the 'open door policy'.

Though, I'd suggest looking at a couple of new friends with some of their advice (haha).