Ad-rag.com has a total hoot post about the similarities btween dangerous cults and ad agencies: the veneration of the cult leader, the honesty within the cult and deception toward outsiders, the central focus of the cultists on the cult to the exclusion of everything else.
The cult gurus are “charismatic, determined, and domineering. They persuade followers to drop their families, jobs, careers, and friends to follow them.”
Sounds exactly like every we-are-creative shop I’ve worked in. (But the alternative, just-another-job approach is way too bland. The “Oops, 4:45 gotta go” shops are no fun.
The whole analysis is a little overdone: are ad agencies really concerned only with “recruiting new members” and “fund raising?” Is fund raising in the cult analogy the same as making money? Agencies that don’t make a profit won’t be around too long.