By Harry Edwards

The LADbible Group, parent company of social media giant LADbible, are among the latest companies to join the UK government’s £2 billion Kickstart Scheme, alongside the likes of Bloomberg and Network Rail. The scheme, which has already created 19,000 job opportunities, with tens of thousands more expected in the coming months, aims to provide opportunities for young people aged 16-24. 

LADbible plans to introduce thirty new 6-month placement roles in 2021, ranging from marketing to creative positions in both their Manchester and London offices. As one of the biggest media outlets in the UK, this scheme provides an exciting and accessible gateway into a fast-growing industry. In their announcement regarding their involvement with the Kickstart Scheme, they state their intentions to “make a positive impact on the industry as a whole and open up avenues and share knowledge to encourage underrepresented talent to consider a career in media.”

By offering these placements, LADbible helps to provide opportunities and new avenues of work that will go on to benefit the media industry as a whole, and help to demystify the industry as well as shine a light on talent that may go underrepresented in other fields. 

This is just the latest in The LADbible Group’s efforts to make contributions to benefit their young audience, having been praised by the World Health Organisation earlier this year for their ‘Cutting Through’ program. This aimed to ‘cut through’ misinformation in regards to the Coronavirus, and provide a responsible and scientifically-backed source of information which its readers could trust as reliable. 

LADbible says that “with great social power comes great social responsibility”, and through their approach to using their platform in such a way shows that they are committed to using their influence in a responsible and progressive way. 

With an estimated 140 million total followers across all platforms, LADbible appears to be using their influence for the better. Within the 18-24 year-old age group in the UK, LADbible claims to reach 82%, and with a great deal of those young people sourcing information through social media it’s important to provide an outlet for that information presented in a responsible and accurate manner - and help to combat widespread misinformation, especially with regards to the Coronavirus pandemic. 

In their post on the Kickstart Scheme, LADbible states their mission as giving young people “a voice by building communities that Laugh, Think and Act.” Their plan to achieve this is through an inclusive workforce, with a projected target of a 50/50 gender split, and a further goal of raising their 19% female senior leadership to 50%. In addition to this, they are pushing for 20% representation of minority groups in both their workforce and leadership teams, as well as a rise from 9% to 12% in their disabled representation. 

In the past, LADbible have been involved in campaigns for mental health and in environmentalism, with their ‘UOKM8?’ campaign in 2016 alongside charities such as CALM, and later working alongside climate activists such as Al Gore and Sir David Attenborough in 2018 in their ‘Trash Isles’ and ‘Extinct’ campaigns. These aimed to bring awareness to men’s mental health, plastic pollution in oceans and the impact of humanity’s actions on animal extinction. Each of these were well-received, reaching millions and proving that the LADbible were more than just an outlet for entertainment. 

In The Drum, Ian Burrell agrees that LADbible have proven their growing sense of maturity, especially in the light of the pandemic this year, where their aims to provide responsible content has been more evident than ever before. 

Outside of their more large-scale campaigns this year, they have continued their usual assortment of entertaining content which, for a company that specialises in this, may not seem important but in the light of anxiety and depression spiking due to national lockdowns and the stress of the pandemic in general, providing an outlet for lighthearted content is certainly welcome.

By proving that they are committed to providing a place for progress and striving to improve their efforts for equality and awareness, LADbible sets an example for other companies with such large platforms, encouraging them to use their voice for good.