Commercial and editorial Photographer, director & Producer / London, Cambridgeshire, NYC and Madrid
Let’s talk about ASOS 🫣 Disclaimer: this is my personal opinion and experience - your experience might differ but I thought I’d share mine too. I’ve been putting off from saying this for a while but here goes. A few years ago I was contacted by a coordinator at ASOS to start a freelance opportunity with them as a producer (not as a photographer) for their e-com shoots - I was hesitant but accepted it as I saw it as an opportunity despite it being £125p/d - yes, you read it correctly, £125! The trial day was interesting. The team (the only person with me) didn’t seem bothered at all about having someone new, they sort of explained what I needed to do but didn’t go into much depth, just told me to shadow them for the day and ask questions when necessary. My day consisted of curating/editing the Capture One session from one of the photographers, selecting final images (the basics) and sending them off to the retouching team and liasing with different parts of the business to make it as smooth process as possible - something I can do and I’ve done before. After the trail day, I received an email saying I wasn’t a good fit for the freelance role as the team thought (the only person I spent the whole day with) I wasn’t a team player, I didn’t seem to put ASOS as a priority (because £125 a day is an outstanding offer for a freelancer). A company that made almost £4 billion revenue in 2022 and yet, you are offering freelancers not even a living wage in London! I didn’t really want to share my personal experience as I thought, maybe it was me, maybe they were right, maybe I was not being a team player and not putting ASOS as my 1st option but today I received an email that has changed my mind and confirmed my suspicions. After this experience (2021), I thought I would reach out last week in case they had any freelance photography opportunities and maybe their rates have changed, so I emailed one of the cordinators. This morning when I received the email, I was greeted with a whole different role (freelance Video Editor position) and my questions, yet again, were ignored and I was sent a template email. Regardless, their offer was £150p/d and there’s no scope for any increment and you need to give ASOS the 1st option as a company - so it makes me reflect and laugh how much we praise ASOS as a company, how inclusive and open they are, how they are disrupting the industry and creating opportunities for everyone but the “opportunities” they offer to freelancers aren’t any of such, they are laughable and to be honest, quite ridiculous to consider that nowaday, that’s a decent rate for anyone when we are living in an economic crisis, travel alone would cost around £30 - £50 to get to them, so you are making less money for them to make billions. I won’t be standing with ASOS, I won’t be praising them and I won’t be buying their products when I know they don’t respect their freelancers, at least, not me. 🫡🫡 #freelance
I've always hated ASOS. They're just as scummy as the other fast fashion brands, and they hide behind the front of "we're hip, fun, and always pushing boundaries". Clothes are overpriced garbage. The brand ethos is despicable. Clearly their rates are also atrocious. Just an all-in-all bad company that continues to destroy the earth, ruin lives, and that we still, for some reason, love throwing money at. *a personal opinion, of course
I freelanced there as a “video editor” in 2018 and 2019 for £150 p/d which was a pisstake, however I have to admit the job itself was dead easy. You would literally have to press record and stop on premiere and then export the asset and upload it to the QC. Every so often you would need to match colours slightly with a colour board, but apart from that the job was very easy. I’m not shocked to find out they haven’t increased the rates in 6 years. One good thing about I will say, was to have days’ work here and there, even when it was for a low rate, so it could work for someone who’s just starting out. Though the title shouldn’t be video editor. Just my two very rambling cents.
My daughter worked for ASOS and I couldn't believe what she would tell me about the worth ethics, cavalier attitude of the people who post on their WhatsApp group about shift that needed covering and ignore those who say "am available" first. She was being paid peanuts and my question is how much do they pay those who slave away in the factories making whatever they sell? Companies like this need to be exposed for "Slave Labour" and boycott whatever they sell. As a mother I was shocked by the description I got from my daughter of the work ethics in that place. Young people should fight this kind of exploitation on all SM platforms. Its a whole hellhole of young people being exploited and pitted against each other for a few £.
Joel R. I really commend you for this post. I have shot for loads of London ecom studiosover the last 12 years or so, ASOS included. There are so many issues around work culture and pay rates that need addressing for freelancers. Freelancers are exploited as they are all clambering over each other for the same work and the studios know this. My time shooting at asos was brief and sounds similar after a handful of bookings on set then being asked to edit and shoot video. I also shot at Iheart studios and was on £175 about 12 years ago and remember going for lunch with another photographer who I found out was on £90 a day for the same work (straight out of university) Sliding scales and no transparency coupled with the fact that we don’t discuss these things among ourselves just allows the culture to continue. I think that all the studios should be transparent with rates cards for freelancers. I’ve been moving away from this kind of work post Covid and Brexit as the rates have not improved and in some cases are even lower. I can’t help but feel if everyone posted like this that it might bring about some change ❤️
Maybe I'm in a minority, and I'm by no means siding with their underhand business practices, but £150 a day equates to nearly 40k a year. Is that really so bad ?
Well done for sharing your experience and opening up this conversation yet again. I freelanced with them for many many years, I worked on many occasions above and beyond my role (doing wardrobe orders, training new stylist, casting new models) and I bought up the terrible pay so many times, but to no avail. The cost of surviving as a creative is a struggle to say the least, asos are one of the only companies who have refused to increase rates to reflect the rise in the cost of living in over 10 years. Incredibly disappointing.
When I freelanced for them, I told them I was pregnant and had bad morning sickness so would it be okay if I worked later/started later some days? Then when I finished, they took 1 FULL day of payment off each week with no explanation and said they “guessed” that’s how much time each week I wasn’t online…
Their day rate is shockingly bad! I've not been a fan of ASOS for many years, but bad practices are rife at the moment. Just last week, a recruiter asked me if I had kids and whether or not I was married after they contacted me about a role. 🤯 While I am saddened to read about your experience, I am glad that you were able to find out their intentions and dubious work practices. It still baffles me that companies treat their staff poorly when anyone can go to Indeed, Glassdoor, etc., to read and leave reviews.
Photographer + Creative Producer + Photo Director + Director
7moThank you for this. Let’s discuss rates paid in 2000 for what is called ecomm of today. Rates were $1500+ a day and sometimes up to $3500. Yes. $1500 per day (8 hours). If the photographer was full time staff which was more like Macys, they still received something like $1000 a day. Makeup/hair in NYC was garnering $1000-1500 a day as well. So fast forward twenty four (24) years later and the industry knowledge has declined period including on rates, so those who don’t know any better take what these companies offer which are extremely low ball rates, yet mortgages, rents, food, fuel, automobiles, entertainment, travel, the list goes on, have tripled and quadrupled in price. I won’t even go into the fact that some of these people praised the men more than women who work for ASOS, but Joel, this is clearly a widespread problem in the creative industry and it’s appreciated for the light you shined! Rates have decreased because of corporate greed and creatives let this happen. We need to band together, not divide.