Next Media Animation Responds To Viral Job Resignation Video

By Lisa White in News on Oct 2, 2013 6:00PM

After watching Marina Shifrin’s viral job resignation video Monday, we expressed hope that her former employer, Next Media Animation, would respond with a video of their own. Known for their kooky video takes on popular news, we were hoping the Taiwanese company would make an animated video as well, but we’ll definitely settle for their take on the original.

Next Media Animation has taken this somewhat negative press in stride, and if anything made a job there seem a bit more attractive. Rooftop swimming pool? We might have to send our resumes—we hear Taiwan is a lovely place to visit! Joking aside, the company seemed a bit befuddled by the video. In a conversation with Gawker, Mark Simon, a commercial director at NMA, thankfully was able to clear the air and give a bit of insight into their company and his thoughts on the situation.

Meanwhile, not everyone is a fan of the current viral sensation. Former Chicagoist writer Betsy Mikel had some harsh words in response to the video, pointing out the fact that she is tired of people like Shifrin representing her generation. Mikel makes some valid points, mainly that Shifrin’s actions encapsulate a lot of the negative observations of the Millennial generation. To many, Shifrin’s brand of goodbye comes off as entitled and self indulgent, but a lot of people are fine with burning bridges. And we’d be lying if we didn’t point out that by making this video, she probably expected a lot of feedback.

It’s a risky form of marketing yourself and not everyone will be a fan, but some will love the idea and it gets a lot of exposure. If you Google Shifrin’s name you’ll see that the story has been shared everywhere, from People magazine to newspapers in Belfast. And if you Google “Taiwan,” an article about her video is the first news hit. A stay-at-home mom even parodied the video. You know you’ve struck a cord when the mom crowd loves you. Either way we enjoyed Shifrin’s ballsy video, even if we wouldn’t be the type of person to do it ourselves in the same situation. But given the type of response from NMA, I think the animators in Taiwan win this round.