Amid Pandemic and Recession, Ivanka Trump-Led #FindSomethingNew Campaign Denounced as 'Stunningly Tone Deaf'

Senior Adviser to the President Ivanka Trump attends a meeting on small business relief in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on April 7, 2020. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

Amid Pandemic and Recession, Ivanka Trump-Led #FindSomethingNew Campaign Denounced as 'Stunningly Tone Deaf'

"Holy shit, this can't be real."

A White House initiative to compel American workers to find different jobs as the coronavirus pandemic rages and millions are out of work is under fire for what critics are describing as a thoughtless tagline: "Find something new."

"Just a stunningly tone deaf campaign," pollster and liberal activist Matt McDermott said on Twitter.

As the Associated Pressreported, the ad campaign is the brainchild of the White House's American Workforce Policy Advisory Board. The panel was created by President Donald Trump in 2018 and is chaired by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and the president's daughter, senior White House advisor Ivanka Trump.

"We are in good hands," journalist Dave Anthony tweeted sarcastically.

According to AP:

The initial 30-second spot features ordinary people talking about their experiences with career challenges and transitions. Among them are a fitness instructor who completed an apprenticeship program and became a welder after her gym went under, and a man who lost his job twice in one year, took online certification courses and now works as a tech consultant.

The campaign is backed by Apple CEO Tim Cook and IBM Chairman Ginni Rometty, as well as the Ad Council and other business leaders, Bloomberg reported.

Numerous studies suggest that millions of jobs lost during the economic crisis sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic are never coming back, leaving the "something new" in the campaign's tagline in doubt.

Activist Holly Figueroa O'Reilly was bemused at the callousness of the campaign's message.

"Holy shit," tweeted O'Reilly, "this can't be real."

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