Blogging politics, culture, sociology and life from Brisvegas
Roy Morgan has tested election ads and found that the Coalition’s negative ads polarise voters - making those leaning to Labor more inclined to vote ALP, and appealling only to Coalition supporters. Their ostensible purpose is to frighten swinging voters away from Rudd, so this is an interesting finding. Could it be that they’re really about defending the silver and not winning the election?
Incidentally, are there any positive Coalition ads? At all?
Originally posted at LP in Exile.
Sophie says: “If you are going to take your clothes off for something, it better be a good cause”.
I think most blokes will think Sophie getting naked is enough of a good cause in itself.
The above quote comes from The Sun’s, err, thoughtful article about Sophie Monk’s decision to get her kit off in the interests of promoting animal rights. Being naked and promoting a political cause makes so much sense, doesn’t it? It’d be interesting to see The Sun’s reaction if Ms Monk’s non-meat eating boyfriend dropped his duds (after all he’s a rock star or something) for the same cause. It’d probably go something like this:
I think most blokes will think Benji getting naked is enough to put them off a bloody good steak.
Of course, The Sun is The Sun, but what justification does PETA have for resorting to such images?
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. Continue reading ‘Advertising the Howard Federal Government’
Via Another Outspoken Female (who posted the link to this in a comment this morning, but it’s too good to languish there for long) the remixed Workplace Relations ad beneath the fold is a brilliant, pointed piece of satire - or does it still qualify as satire when it’s this close to the truth? Anyway, fantastic stuff. Whoever assembled this has skills. Continue reading ‘Know Where You Stand - the remix’
There’s an interesting piece from Margaret Simons at Creative Economy on the limits of mainstream media blogging. She riffs off the Jack Marx sacking, and I think the lead time for publication at CE is longer than for Crikey where she often writes, as she hasn’t noted Marx’ appearance on the Bulletin’s election blog site (where his first post is pretty tedious quite frankly). The Bulletin’s “Bullring” might be a good case study on those limits, as it’s mostly boring and predictable stuff written mainly by … surprise, surprise… Bulletin staffers, and the stories read like short articles rather than blog posts per se. It’s always a little unfair to judge these things at their inception, but on the other hand, the general track record of such “blogs” is pretty poor. Very few comments may also imply a very low readership, but hey, ain’t that the Bully? There’s another interesting analysis to be written about the News “blogs” which get very heavy comments, but that’s a tale for another day.
Some time ago I wrote, and had published, a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald in response to reports, in connection with the death of Dianne Brimble, that P&O had run an overtly sexist advertising campaign for its cruises designed to attract male passengers of similar character and sexual politics to those regarded as “persons of interest” in relation to Ms. Brimble’s death. The letter urged people to boycott companies which engaged in such crassly sexist advertising campaigns, and that such firms be blacklisted from government purchasing and procurement.
Now, our most Christian of Federal Treasurers is steering a Bill through Parliament which would give the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission the power to sue the ring off me if ever I have the temerity to write similar letters in future.
David Marr reports and comments on the Bill in today’s SMH. The Bill enables the ACCC to sue individuals and organisations who advocate or engage in secondary boycotts of companies for any reason which is not “substantially related” to environmental protection or consumer protection, for damages up to the full value of any loss which the company might incur as a result of the boycott.
Continue reading ‘So sue me’
There’s a very comprehensive rebuttal of the biz “Workplace Reform” ads over at Talk It Out. Not a lot to add, except two quick points. The ads appear to be targetted to people hoping corporate profits will keep rising, and they’ll be getting fat dividend cheques. That’s odd, because as the Crosby/Textor leaked polling shows, the segments of the electorate who’ve moved against the government are, unsurprisingly, those you’d expect to have been most affected or most worried about WorkChoices:
And it tracked groups - including the so-called aspirational voters who helped elect Mr Howard in 1996 - who have shifted to Labor.
Nationally, the defections have been led by what the report calls “new Labor” - voters aged 18 to 24 whose numbers rapidly increased when Kevin Rudd took over from Kim Beazley as labor leader.
Part-time workers, voters aged 35 to 49 and “lower white/upper blue” collar workers - the middle income bracket - also were moving to Labor.
In NSW, voters who had dumped the Government included those aged 35 to 49, part-time workers, and the critical “lower white/upper blue” sector.
Any sort of advertising, political or otherwise, has to effectively target particular segments of the population. Given that the initial impetus from the ads was said to come from disgust among biz leaders at the ACTU ads that showed board members cackling over their pay rises while plotting to cut workers’ wages, I suspect the audience is actually the people who commissioned the ads. It’s feel good stuff. For them. If I were a shareholder in one of the companies indirectly funding this ineffective and self-indulgent propaganda, I’d be asking some questions.
From today’s Crikey email:
Kevin07 is like a refreshing spring breeze. It’s very bronzed and very beachy. There is something new under the sun. Or at least that’s what Labor would like you to think about its new website.
In Monday’s Crikey, I had this to say about Howard’s online strategy:
Howard is actually using social media rather cunningly – to play the mainstream media rather than appeal directly to the “YouTube generation.
Kevin07 is trying to have it both ways. The unkind would say that’s not dissimilar to the offline Kevin.
All ads should be this good…
I have an article published in the latest issue of New Matilda on the broader implications for governance of the Barbara Bennett ads affair.
Spin-driven and symbolic politics are nothing new, writes Mark Bahnisch, but Barbara Bennett’s smiling endorsement of the Government’s workplace relations policies has taken public relations and campaigning tactics to a new playing field — the public service.
THE Government’s $37 million campaign to sell its workplace legislation was in tatters last night after allegations that an actor in a Workplace Authority advertisement was himself a bad employer who ripped off junior staff to the tune of thousands of dollars.
Workplace Minister Joe Hockey last night pulled the ad “Protection for under-18s” off air after The Age asked him about the history of one of the actors, Damien Richardson, who until recently had a painting business employing youngsters.
Mr Hockey also announced an emergency review of the background of all actors appearing in any Workplace Authority advertisement, to be carried out by the Workplace Ombudsman, a spokeswoman said.
Many thanks to another outspoken female for the heads up via the LP Facebook Group.
Elsewhere: More from An Onymous Lefty, Helen at Surfdom and Blogocracy.
Last weekend, I wrote about why I thought the lead the Coalition has on economic management in the polls doesn’t necessarily reflect an actual advantage. This weekend, I’m stunned at their chutzpah.
In a new ad, the Libs blame Labor states’ borrowing for putting upward pressure on interest rates - playing the blame game in advance of a likely rise in rates from the Reserve Bank this week. Believe it or not, it’s the fault of teh Labor states.
Continue reading ‘Preferred economic managers clueless on economics’
Having achieved “huge success” in Victoria last year, SPC Ardmona’s Collect-A-Tub program has gone national through Coles and BiLo. When you buy certain Goulburn Valley “fruit snacks” in a plastic tub, you get points for your school, which can eventually be redeemed for “sporting goods“. High-scoring schools will be “rewarded” with visits from athletes while the highest scoring wins the Flying Fruit Fly Circus.
Sounds all very admirable, active and healthy and no doubt it speaks to the national anxiety about food, exercise and childhood obesity, but as a parent my critical antennae went up when I first saw these collect-a-tub ads on TV. Continue reading ‘Fruit, glorious fruit’
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