In June, 100 senior executives from the media, marketing, tech and creative sectors will spend a night in prison as part of UnLtd’s Adland Bail Out event. They aim to raise awareness and money to help break the cycle of youth incarceration.
The ‘inmates’ will swap their usual home comforts for prison uniforms, solitary confinement, and prison grub to experience what life really is like for many young people at risk. They will be stripped of their possessions, fingerprinted, and interrogated, before spending the night in the chilling cells of Yasmar Youth Detention Centre in Sydney.
In order to be released the next day, each participant is required to raise $1,250 as their ‘bail’. The funds raised will go towards UnLtd charity partners’ programs specifically designed to break the cycle of youth incarceration.
“Australia is one of the only countries in the developed world that places children as young as 10 years into juvenile justice centres. Imprisoning children at such a young age simply does not work and only leads to a revolving door of incarceration, mental ill-health, and a huge cost to our society,” said Stephen Hunt, CEO of UnLtd.
“At UnLtd, we are fortunate to work with several charities that are focused on providing better outcomes for young people and society; ultimately keeping kids out of jail and helping them break the vicious cycle of youth incarceration. This event is a fantastic and unique way to bring awareness to this issue, deliver a visceral experience to our participants and to raise funds for more effective programs,” continued Hunt.
The ‘inmates’ already confirmed include Ashley Earnshaw from Nine, Ben McCallum from UM, Cathy O’Connor from oOh!media, Claire Fenner from Atomic, Jasmin Bedir from Innocean, Laura Nice from OMD, Mark Jarrett from PHD, Nicole Bence from Nova, Sam Buchanan from IMAA and many more. This year, a couple of previously released inmates will take on a different role with Fiona Roberts from MiQ, Paul Kent from Deep Media and Ricky Chanana aka Micky Cabana confirmed as prison guards. See the full list below.
The inmates are currently busy raising their bail with Liam O’Meara at the top of the leaderboard for most funds raised to date.
“When I did it, this was a truly thought-provoking and confronting experience. My heart went out to the teens I met there,” said Sparrow from B&T, who completed the bail out event a few years back. “I couldn’t sleep a wink all night because my cellmates were snoring!”
B&T features and analysis editor, Arvind Hickman, who has been to lock up on more than one ocassion previously, said: “Don’t think for one second I won’t be smuggling in my poisoned pen to defend myself against this unruly crowd. Micky Cabana has nothing on me.”
Fiona Roberts, managing director, ANZ MiQ, added: “I took part in the Adland bail out a few years back and it was one of the most eye-opening experiences I’ve ever had. Spending the night on those cold hard floors of a cell is humbling and hearing the real life stories from young people is incredibly touching. But I’ve served my sentence and this year I’m excited to keep the motley crew in order as a guard. Get ready to do as I tell you.”
The participants will also take part in thought-provoking workshops to hear from young people with lived experience of youth incarceration and inspiring experts working tirelessly to help keep young people out of trouble, out of jail, and chasing their hopes and dreams.
2024 Adland Bail Out inmates so far:
Adam Elliott, Advertising Industry Careers
Adam Johnson, Nova
Andrew Gilbert, Yahoo!
Andy Procopis, ARN
Arvind Hickman, B&T
Ashley Earnshaw, Nine
Ashley McGrath, UnLtd
Ben McCallum, UM
Brittany ‘Bad B’ White, REA Group
Cathy O’Connor, oOh!media
Chris Ernst, Dentsu
Chris Freel, oOh!media
Claire Fenner, Atomic 212
Daniel ‘Dmac’ McConochie, Alliance Outdoor Media Group
Danika Johnston, WeAre8
Esther ‘The Pest’ Carlsen, Nova
Geoff ‘Golden Boy’ Cochrane, VMO
Henrik Isaksson, Acast
James Dixon, Atomic 212
Jade Harley, UnLtd
Jasmin Bedir, Innocean
Jo Clasby, Nine
Julia Edwards, Uber
Julie Anne ‘JLO from the Prison Block’ Longano, Peeps Consulting
Kasey Jamison, Amazon Ads
Kathryn ‘Fury’ Furnari, Innocean
Katie ‘The Shark Attack’ Finney, Seven Network
Laura ‘really not’ Nice, OMD
Liam O’Meara, Val Morgan Digital
Marcelle Gomez, iProspect
Mark Jarrett, PHD
Michael McEwan, M&C Saatchi Group
Nick ‘The Thomas Terror’ Thomas, Amazon
Nicole Bence, Nova
Nik Weber, ESPN
Ori ‘notORIous Gold’ Gold
Paul ‘Siggy’ Sigaloff, oOh!media
Pia ‘P-Dogg’ Coyle, PHD
Remi Roques, BroadSign
Sam Buchanan, IMAA
Stephen Hunt, UnLtd
Tom Loudon, Little Black Book
Tiffany Damm, UnLtd
Trent ‘ Bob’ McMillan, Kaimera
