As the non-election advertising campaign goes on and on, I have a couple of quick comments:
* I have a school-aged child and would therefore be in the prime target group for the Federal Government’s drugs brochure. Yet when mine finally arrived, I found little in it of any interest. I leafed through it and put it into the recycling bin. Afterwards, I was struck by what an enormous waste of money this was - first of all, this went to every Australian household, yet fewer than 50% of Australian households include children. If there was really an interest in targeting parents, this was not the way to go about it. Distributing the brochure through (shock!) the public school system might have been more effective. I’m left to conclude that the main aim of this particular campaign was to spread John Howard’s paternalistic face around and make it look like he and his government are extremely concerned and doing something about (horror!) drugs.
* The ubiquitous ads from the Workplace Info line annoy me in general, but one in particular really gets on my nerves. It’s the one where the two blokes are watching footy on TV in a pub while discussing the economy (as you do). As one tells the other [paraphrasing], there’s record employment in Australia at the moment, so the idea that employers are going to do anything to get rid of employees doesn’t make sense, does it - instead, they’ll be bending over backwards to suit their employees. You might think - I did at first - this was an ad sponsored by an employers’ organisation, but no, it’s a Federal Government ad for a telephone information line. They just thought they’d drop in that little promo for what incredibly good economic managers this government is, at taxpayers’ expense. There ought to be a law against it.
* Actually, there’s another one of those ads which annoys me too. It’s the one where two blokes are chatting about one of them’s brother, who’s under 18. I don’t know if it’s just my age, but the bloke talking looks at least 35 to me, so the chances of him having a brother under 18 seem remote. Maybe his age is meant to emphasise the joke at the end - that he still lives at home with his parents, who are keen to get rid of him. Ha de ha ha.
Crikey has had a couple of good articles about the advertising campaign in the past couple of days: the amount they’re spending and where it’s going and one on the Ministerial Committee on Government Communications.
Over to you: which is your least favourite Government ad and why?
My least favourite ads are always the ones where the actors ham up lame-o ocker accents to underscore their working class authenticity. As previously seen in: Centrelink “training” videos they make you sit through before they’ll give you any money. And thus the one you refered to with the two blokes are top of the list.
The radio ones where they make those that don’t like Workchoices appear alarmist, ill informed and maybe just a bit senile.
Very clever.
BTW, Uncle Joe last night defended that ‘two blokes in a pub’ advert because it wasn’t about politics, it was about facts.
He then repeated each of the relevant bits (employment rates up, job security up etc) and stated these were all facts the Australian public needed to know about.
All of them. I reposted the pernicious drug blurb back to Kirribilli House. Apparently so many people sent back the brochures about being Lerts instead of Larmeds (myself among them), Australia Post had to open a special room to store them. This, of course, did not surface on national TV til months after, and then, very cursorily.
I take the view that all Howard Govt. advertising is a Liberal Party plot to subvert Australian democracy and decent, as opposed to Howardian, Australian values.
I thought the very same thing when my copy of the drugs brochure was shoved through my letterbox - along with the brochure about protecting your kids on the Internet. Not incidentally, the “Talking with your kids about drugs” brochure is a reprint of a 2005 government brochure of the same name - with an extra page added with a foreword by Howard and a photo of the man himself. Since a copy of the earlier publication wasn’t delivered to my childless household I can only assume the Government was targetting its advertising more carefully then.
But I wonder if all this advertising won’t backfire on the Government as voters start thinking about how much all this is costing, and get sick of clearing the extra junk-mail out of their letterboxes?
I hate them all. None of them are sqaure with the viewer.
Even the apprentices ads are slanted electorally, with the seemingly innocuous “with the economy booming… [we’ve pointlessly duplicated TAFE].”
I really think they’ve jumped the shark though. The meta message is “Gday! we think youre probably dumb enough to pay for our re-election campaign…”.
The citizenship test advert gets my goat. And then consorts with it in an unnatural way.
Seriously, isn’t this constant propagandising more in keeping with the media efforts of tin-pot communist states? We’d be laughing our arses off at how clumsy and inept it is if we found it on YouTube.
Yeah Nick, we’ve rather let this democracy caper slide, havent we.
I mean seriously, for those of us who do remember pre-Howard days of representative government, the use of Barbara Whatsherface in the WaterCloset ads is truly shocking, third-world style crony corruption of the public service.
But even Ive become innured and cynical, and struggle to recall the old ways. Do punters think it normal?
Lefty E,
I suspect a lot of punters go and make a cup of tea or coffee, get a tinnie out of the fridge or ring up for a pizza when the ads come on.After I’ve watched them once, just to see what the weasel is up to, I never watch them again. After all, how many 30 year olds have switched to private health insurance? What aging 60s pot smoker would take any notice of his drug ads? Is anybody being screwed by Workchoices going to believe his propaganda? I could go on and on, but the lies in these ads are so transparent, I suspect people just shut off. And how many kids, (unless they’re deranged enough to be in the Young Libs, and believe me, that’s seriously deranged if the Armidale uni mob are anything to go by) would watch JWH on You-Tube?
Nick Caldwell -
I agree about tinpot communist states and shonky wall-to-wall ads. It’s a cut-down version of Orwell’s Big Brother propaganda screens.
Then there are “information” campaigns - “get fit, go for a walk”, “wear sunscreen”, “don’t drink & drive”, “don’t bash your girlfriend”, “wear a seatbelt”, “go for a cervical cancer check-up”, “don’t smoke”, “swim between the flags”, “crocs can eat you”, etc. I used to loathe them, until I realised some of the nation’s formerly very unhealthy habits were slowly being ditched. Slow progress over a long time…. but I can see why some call it “the Nanny State”.
Just one small case study where shonky communist practices ultimately (and only for a few minutes or seconds) had an enlightening effect. I’m told that in old Romania, every town and village had a TV set in a public place showing State-run TV, all day. When the crowds in Bucharest finally turned on the dictator and roared out their disapproval, the shocking event was instantly relayed throughout the whole country. So the dictatorship broadcast the moment it began to collapse. Those TV images may well have assisted in the rapid demise of the ancien regime, across the whole country (not just in the capital).
Was it worth enduring decades of unspeakable crap, to witness that golden moment? Ask a Romanian who was there and saw it.
Agree with you totally suz, it’s a huge waste of money.
They embolden me to turn the TV off, but then again the same is true of all advertising. And indeed of most of the shows.
Seriously, isn’t this constant propagandising more in keeping with the media efforts of tin-pot communist states?
I’ve thought for quite a while that Howard seems to want to project an “uncle of the nation” image similar to Ho Chi Minh (or Mao Tse Tung or even Fidel).
Uncle Howie?
I don’t mind the anti-domestic violence ones - they don’t have the same… I dunno, propaganda feel as a lot of them do.
And I actually looooooooooove the veggie man and dancing chair ones (bring back the dancing chair!!). They are cute and have an important, non-threatening message.
But I cannot stand the ones using propaganda blue - you know, the private health insurance, workchoices and superannuation. I hate hate hate how their colour schemes all dovetail nicely with Liberal party advertising.
And I hate the “Scary Black” “People Are Coming To Get You And Your Children” ads - the terrorism ones, and the Internets Are Bad For You ones.
Yes, this is transparently propoganda. The problem is that a large section of the electorate is influenced by it. Jackboot Johnny knows people who grasp what’s going on won’t vote for him so he’s courting the feeble-minded, just like he did at the last election (children overboard etc.). Remember he doesn’t need everyone to vote for him - just 51% - and democracy does not discriminate. I can’t help feeling these ads are probably a lot more effective than we would credit, more’s the pity.
We left the kids and drugs brochure on the bench meaning to send it back. The 13 year old offspring pinched it and scuttled off to his room.
When we asked him later what he thought of it he said it’s stupider than the internet one. Being responsible parents we explained that there’s no such word as ’stupider’.
Not so, at least not the IR ads anyway. Research has shown that half the time people think the ads are ACTU ads, and in the event they merely confirm what people already think about the government’s IR policies-they stink. There is a problem with reminding people about the elephant in the room, and the problem is that every time they show the ads it’s another free kick for those who have spent time and money campaigning against Serfchoices. I love it, every time, and I especially love the way the two blokes almost falling asleep on their chairs as they discuss how great it is to have some unknown bureaucrat tell them that a pay offer is fair, speak like absolute morons.
It is an unconscious, but nevertheless illuminating reminder, of the absolute contempt the government and the advertising industry generally have, for people’s intelligence.
Since the idiocy of the two blokes is so obvious, just which demographic do they think will be influenced by this? I mean since only idiots will be voting for them next time, that demographic is already accounted for.
That Barbara Bennet ad gets right on my goat - whenever that Hot Lips Hoolahan lookalike comes on I start humming the intro to M*A*S*H.
What started out as a joke has quickly a turned into a godawful, unbreakable habit.
Da de da dut da dut daaa.
Grrrr.
I think the idea is “even these two salt of the earth but obviously stupid working class gentlemen see the wisdom of Workchoices. Who are you to disagree?”
Is there any evidence to suggest that these ads have any impact whatsoever? Perhaps I’m moving in the wrong circles, but I’m yet to meet someone stupid enough to fall for these ads.
I lost the remote with the ad mute for about 24 hours and I nearly went mad.
She is better known as ‘Betty Bollocks’.
Sorry Lynn, but ’stupid’ is an adjective, and therefore you can have varying degrees, as in ‘weak’, ‘weaker’, and ‘weakest’.
You’re clearly an unfit parent. It’s a good thing Bronny B isn’t PM, otherwise the poor little mite would be on the first bus to Adoption, pronto.
Last Sunday, Joe Hockey had two ‘Open Letter to Australia’s Nurses’ ads in ‘The Age’. If any ad agency (I’ve been in more than a few) were to waste a real client’s money like that, they’d be fired in a nanosecond.
Joe, if you really want to talk to a target group as discrete as nurses, use direct-mail. It won’t cost a tenth of what it’s costing you now and will be a ten times more effective.
But …
But you’re not, are you? You have become as desperate to hold power as the rest of your party. You steal from those who you want to vote for you to pay for advertising that could never be justified.
Joe, using our money to tell us how good you are is akin to a mugger telling his muggees that their business is important to him and asking them to come around an be robbed again.
Let’s face it the govmint is doing it’s best to empty the contents of our fridge, while we are all supposed to be looking at the magnet.
I suppose theoretically just 26% is required (a bare majority of voters in a bare majority of electorates). Maybe targeted marginal seat pork-barreling is JHo’s best strategy?
Anyway, most Govt advertising pisses me orf. Luckily I haven’t seen any Workchoices ads, but there are tons of other Gummint ads, and their frequency is increasing. There’s so many bloody Gummint ads now that it must be annoying most people and getting counter-productive.
Amanda thanks for reminding me of the Centrelink “training” videos - the long buried memory brought tears of laughter to my eyes. To sit in a room with a group of people and watch that ridiculous video just felt like a deliberate insult by the government. They must really think that the unemployed are of Neanderthal intelligence judging by the nauseating efforts of the actors.
The anti-domestic violence ones drive me screaming up the wall. Firstly, ‘Domestice Violence, Australia says No’, cause, you know, New Zealand and Finland and all those other countries out there, they’re all over DV as a fun and recreational hobby. And, to add insult to crappy slogan writing, if ‘Australia’ (seriously, wtf?) really does say no, why do we need these god awful ads in the first place?
And this rubbish replaced the actually useful anti-DV campaign that was all ready to roll.
My favourite in the onslaught of tax payer funded ads is the one for weed identification! I mean, after 200 years the introduction of foreign weeds and other pests (like rabbits and foxes), there is this urgency to tell everyone what is a a weed and what isn’t.
This Howard mob really are finished.
Suz, I’m 36 going on 37 and I have a brother who is till in primary school. It happens.
Funny, the AEC enrol to vote ads havent been the government’s top budget priority.
And by the way, someone remind Rudd to say he’ll keep the now upfront 30% childcare rebate. This must be popular, and just came in to bank accounts last week.
Of course, fixing childcare availablity should be the priority. eg lets move 3-4yo kinder away from the friggin useless ‘home mum’ half day model to something halfway frigging useful for TEH working familiez (eg 9-5 model, please!)
[Hmm ….having a did I say this here or at Pollbludger moment??].
Apologies for any repost. Just arrived back from Europe and am from space.
Im sorry, I cant do that, dave.
The things the ads forget to tell us are:
1. in a booming economy, employers are desperate to contain wages.
2. if it was true that awards and unions depressed wages, employers would welcome them, since their responsibility to shareholders is to reduce labour costs.
3. AWA wages are higher because early adopters of AWAs were high level managers and professionals. The government knows this.
Any voters who are not yet sure about the Howard government, draw your own conclusions.
Perfectly Cromulant word there Conan but two syllable adjectives without the ‘y’ typically use ‘more’ as in ‘Darwin is more humid than Perth’
The story ended in my head that the two workers decided that it would be a perfect time to press the bosses for better pay and conditions and if they banded together and threatened to withdraw their labour, they could get whatever they wanted. There was a Kenny Loggins song called “We’ve Got the Power” in there somewhere too. And then this call centre person appeared and the magic went.
As opposed to what really plays out over the credits:
“I’m alright [Jack],
Don’t nobody worry ’bout me…”
Ssh.
Don’t tell anybody but I looked at and voted on the 9MSN poll which asked [something like]
“Are the government’s environmental ads a joke?”
And about 2/3 of respondents said “Yes”.
And thats from the mob who boast:
“More Australians get their misinformation from Channel 9 than any other source.”
Or something like that.
On a tangentially related subject, has anyone seen that ad about climate change that features a child in a suit? What do you think of that one? I found it not terribly punchy but my eight year old loves it.
Indeed Mr Healy, but that kind of analysis and thinking is entirely unsuitable for prime time TV, indeed for any kind of public discussion whatsoever. It is unseemly, not to say impolite, to address vulgar issues like the distribution of relative shares of output and productivity when the punters are trying to get a little distraction, entertainment and basic information from their democratically elected
fathergovernment. Those kinds of matters may be safely dealt with by people who can be trusted to produce the proper perspectives, and whose conversations, to the extent they are public, are confined to places where, it can be safely presumed, the decent, mainstream Australian punter, does not to wander.I think we’re on the same page, Amused. The Coalition’s drift towards feudalism has given even the feeble-minded a clue that something is amiss. These ads are to reassure them lest they jump ship. Just don’t underestimate how many of them there are.
I sent back the Internet blurb but opened the drug one. I object to anything that starts “My fellow Australians…..”
Though they are no doubt the worst offenders, the Federal (Lib) government are not alone. While the droogs and porno mail outs might just about count as ‘public information’, the Workchoices ones are offensive propaganda as they are advertising a policy that has already been carried out, and which it is costing us for them to change. In that respect, I think the Victorian (Lab) government wins the prize with their series last year advertising improvements in public schools! Money that ‘we’ had already spent! Also, Melbourne University has now taken to outsourcing expensive ads on its own campus, so advertising the university to its own students!
Orwellian stuff. But not as Orwellian as the most cynical of all, the ‘national security information campaign’, where the government hangs on the coat tails of overseas atrocities to boost its ’security’ credentials. Ms Laurie is quite right, the campaign and ads are racist. (’if you see something suspicious, call the police, if the guy’s brown, call us’). I’ve written more about the terror ads here.
I’m new here but here goes
I have opened and chucked the drugs and internet mail outs into the bin. The drugs one I got as far as the second sentence where they started a sentence with the word “And” If they cannot cope with basic english language in a letter from the PM then I give up. I have long been a supporter of harm minimization rather than prohibition. Prohibition has not worked anywhere in the world so far and “Tough on Drugs” the death penalty does not deter people how much tougher can you get?
The internet one I handed to a mates kids and they said they could bypass the filter in a matter of seconds and they were primary school.
Workchoices? the add where guy in pub says “I thought it was a fair deal then the government said the boss had to give me more money” if he is not smart enough to realize he is being screwed by his boss then WTF????
I was sacked for refusing to use dangerous electrical gear recently under Workchoices this is OK with Joe Hockey it is not unfair or illegal for me to be sacked for refusing to risk my life.
As for asking workchoices or the ombudsman for help when you ring the “help” line you are told “We cannot give legal advice we suggest you hire a lawyer” some help if you have a mortgage kids to feed and are out of a job.
Needless to say I am not impressed with the $200,000,000 advertising campaign.
Doug, hopefully a few more workers see through these ridiculous ads, and see how cynical these IR laws really are.
Getting Australian taxpayers (i.e. workers) to fund this insulting propaganda is to not only have workers over a barrel, but to expect them to pay for the lubricant.
I am surprised at how many people still say “But Howard is a good man. What has he done wrong that people don’t like him?”
I think the main problem is we are so obsessed with money and material success that we have lost sight of society.
I would rather live in a peaceful and friendly world than in a palace that needs guards and in fear of my life.
A friend recently returned from the Caribbean a delightful place but your could not walk on the beach at night for fear of being robbed raped or murdered.
People in million dollar homes hired security guards and then lived in fear the guards would rob and kill them.
I would rather supply cheap drugs to addicts than have them break into my home to get them. I don’t care how much tax I pay when I need a hospital I want to have a good one nearby.
I want my grandchildren to be educated and to learn to live and learn without bullies.
I am one of those strange people who believes it matters not if you win or lose but how you play the game. Howard seems to embody the philosophy
“Winner take all , Second place is for losers”
I hate all Work Choices ads but that woman in that mauve cardigan with the headset is so damn sexy.
Damien: I’m 36 going on 37 and I have a brother who is still in primary school. It happens.
So there are at least 24 years between you. That’s unusual. Do you have the same two parents or did one of your parents start a new family?
I’m 39 and my brother is 20 but we have different mothers.
Speaking of wasting of Taxpayer’s money, I’ve just recieved a personally addressed letter on official letterhead from Stuart Henry, Member for Hasluck announcing a new Australian Technical College here in Midland WA, along with an “issues” survey.
Small problem, I’m in the neighbouring electorate of Pearce - Safe Liberal.
GetUp have organised a satirical versino of the Climate Change “I can do that” adds. They aim to air it on Grand Final day.
I haven’t seen the add but the voice-over is funny (video card playing up).
Am I the only one that suspects they are not as stupid as they look, they know perfectly well the ads don’t work, but the object of the exercise is to pour as much public money as quickly as possible into the pockets of some key players in the media industries?
It’s be a great year for some advertising agencies, and production companies, no wukkas.
Yes Suz, I know a couple of families like Mark and Damien’s. At least 3. If I had to start again with the nappies after the other kids were grown I’d cry, but others are evidently made of sterner stuff.
WORD Amanda. I just hate the way this government fingers people like me, who have “white collar” techie jobs paying less than a tradie, drive an old car and worry about paying the rates bill, as “elites” cos we have certain opinions on things, and they display this kind of political kabuki which shows they really have no idea of working class people themselves.
Oh dear, another keyboard ruined.]
While we’re on the topic of JH, political advertising and animals, can I go a bit O/T and quote this fantastic quote which is on Ms Fits blog - from a C of E reverend in the UK:
And, he has a nice ass.
PhilbySydney, here’s the URL
https://www.getup.org.au/campaign/ClimateCleverer&id=128
It’s a hoot.