• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, November 22, 2015

In the Shower Thought subreddit, Narokkurai posted: "Every ad agency should have an 'office pervert,' a boorish slob whose sole job is to review every pitch and find every innuendo/offensive subtext he can." 

To other redditors who thought he was joking, Narokkurai clarified by writing: "No no no, this is to AVOID the penis. The Office Pervert is a specially trained operative, a man who can find a penis-shaped needle in a haystack, so the art department can correct it before it goes out to the public." 

In a way, Narokkurai has a solid point. Far too much work seems to escape the common sense review process and not just for reasons of sexual innuendo of offensive language. Of course, it's also hard to contend with rampant -- but ever so faux -- social media "outrage" which often turns a seemingly innocuous ad into a poster child some egregious offense. In other words, there is always someone out there who will be offended by whatever is created no matter how harmless it may seem at the time of creation. 

That said, it really would behoove an agency to instill a bit of common sense into the process to minimize the chance of turning the brands they work for into idiotic, insensitive dolts who are then ravaged by trolls who have nothing better to do than to sit around in their underwear and trash whatever crosses their screen. 

As much as this function is needed, it's quite clear no one would pine for the job title of Office Pervert. Even if, deep down, they are one.