CITB sex and booze ads to hit billboards

Exclusive by Tim Wood

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) this week launched its most controversial recruitment campaign ever with images of sex and booze set to be plastered across billboards from today (Wednesday).

Stage one of the Board's latest publicity drive, which coincides with the publication of this year's A-level results, will be seen by many as sending out entirely the wrong message to the 14- to 19-year-olds they are targeting.

But the Board has defended the content of its new £900,000 campaign to publicise construction courses and NVQs, saying it is only responding to the lifestyle choices of teenagers.

CITB communications director Jerry Lloyd told CJ: "We are quite prepared to stand up to any accusations of controversy.

"Quite frankly, you are not going to attract young people based on what the industry wants, or what parents might want. Instead we are concentrating on what turns them on, what makes them tick - and our research shows that sex and alcohol do.

"We are trying to show that construction is a real career featuring real lifestyle elements."

The campaign has also been designed to encourage women and the ethnic minorities.

"We made the conscious decision that of the four people featured, two were Asian and one was black," said Lloyd.

"It is vitally important to ensure that the full mix of races were represented because we want construction to be a multi-cultural industry.

"One of the posters also portrays a woman in charge of a cinema project to show that women are just as likely to become highly respected industry professionals as men."

The CITB campaign is split into two stages. Stage one will see adverts in 34 regional papers today and Friday, while for the next two weeks 618 posters will feature on billboards across the country, 288 of which will be near the 47 colleges running construction courses. However, posters won't be seen in Scotland until October as colleges north of the border run separate SNVQs and there is less of a problem recruiting apprentices.

Stage two, due to launch during National Construction Week (NCW), which runs between 15 and 21 October, will have a national rather than local focus with ads in broadsheet newspapers and youth magazines such as Loaded and FHM.

Lloyd also urged the industry to lend its full support. "So far, there are 120 activities organised by companies for NCW," he said. "But we need far more. The message here, is come on guys, there is only so much the CITB can do to ease the recruitment crisis."