CB Poll: After 200 votes 93% believe the govt’s boat visa ads in Australian newspapers is blatant political advertising at tax payers’ expense
July 29 2013, 12:03 pm | | 21 Comments
We asked: Are the Rudd government’s boat visa ads in Australian newspapers genuinely targeting asylum seekers or blatant political advertising at tax payers’ expense?
After 200 votes 93% believe it was blatant political advertising.
21 Comments
Many asylum seekers are re-uniting with their family – so these ads are talking to a key stakeholder – clearly target marketing and NOT overtly political
Horseshit Deano… It’s a half arsed attempt at tring to appear to be doing something
Sorry Deano, I call bullshit.
Time will tell. Nobody knows if their arse is going to be inside their elbow tomorrow, so let’s see what happens.
Anything is better than Gollum running the country. Anything.
Unlike the Liberals, and The Coalition in general, who get their advertising via the Murdoch press editorials and 2GB, Labor uses the bully pulpit they have at their disposal with government funded media that simultaneously promotes their initiatives and does the people’s business, like any government in power frankly.
When the same sort of question gets asked by CBB for News publications with their screaming headlines, slanted coverage, and opinion pages, we’ll take semi-rhetorical questioning, and their polling more seriously.
Until then . . .
“We wanted a campaign that got to the point quickly but also took our audience on a magical journey. A journey of self discovery and enlightenment.
Just saw this ad in the financial pages of The Australian.
Cleverly targeted media designed to reach refugees and people smugglers?
I don’t think so.
kevin rudd has sunk to a new low.
Are we supposed to believe that refugees are sitting around in places like Afghanistan,Iraq and Iran and are reading the ads in australian newspapers and listening to australian radio ads.
kevin rudd obviously does’nt have a problem with treating taxpayers money as his own. This is pure propaganda.
When I saw them in the paper I thought how is a refugee who is overseas reading our papers and also reading in English when they are from foreign countries…
Why don’t they put money into fixing the problem countries and ratting out the jerks who run these illegal operations that cause people to risk their lives on a rickety boat so they feel safe – I am sure most of them wouldn’t leave if they felt safe in the own countries…
Of course there’s a political agenda here, and a human component as well. Do those two objectives need to be in opposition to one another, or is that just the way that the media, and by that I’d include our marketing and advertising industry, can best profit from any given social or political environment? That’s rhetorical of course.
To Krud and Ian’s points, my guess is that there’s at least one well-worn copy of an Australian daily newspaper that gets circulated around the refugee camps in every asylum seeker community where people await their chance to come to Australia.
If this were your destination, and the political situation was known to be as highly charged as it’s been, then wouldn’t the most important thing in your world be news from where you hope will be your new homeland? I know it would be mine, and as far as targeted strategies go, this one has hit any number of targets, at home and away.
Excuse me, but your indignation is showing.
Seriously, anyone who believes these ads running in Australia have anything to do with people smugglers is a nong of the highest order. It’s an attempt at vote smuggling, nothing more – ironically by the bloke who caused the whole mess by softening the border laws in the first place.
Whoever typeset these should spend 10 years in mandatory detention.
You don’t need to watch Madmen to realise that the creative side of the ad industry, and let’s just call it the business side have always been at opposite ends of the political spectrum, while working under the same roof.
From the percentages reflected in the poll here, as well as the conservative bent of the comments, it’s also easy to understand just how much the creatives have been undermined in the industry locally, and how staunchly right wing that advertising and media in general have become here in Australia.
It wasn’t always this way, but as is so evident in the work itself, on far too many levels, the accountants have taken over the creative workplace, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change in the foreseeable future.
Hey neighbours, hope you don’t mind me popping over the fence.
Just wanted to say, as a longtime leftie here in little old NZ…this makes me sick to my stomach.
Take a long, long, long look at your country.
Bye.
Let’s ignore the deplorable policy.
If one had endless coffers and was targeting families of Asylum seekers already living in Australia (which is clearly an audience worth communicating with), then one’s media buy would include all mainstream national press.
Which this does.
Its a sad state of affairs In Oz.
These poor people are just fodder for 2 of the most politically feral pollies ever. Abbot or Rudd…puke…it appears neither have any real morals they can stand by, they only care about votes and the top job.
Sadly they are egged on by shock jocks and a media dominated by people like Murdoch
Serious and complex humanitarian issues in a wealthy country like Australia deserve a bit more thought, as difficult as they are…indeed we should hang our heads in shame.
We need a completely independant, and I mean completely independant, umpire on these wasteful Government ads. We could save tens of millions easily
If it was legit, they would be running the ads in ethnic press complete with translated headlines. A lot cheaper to run full page in 4 different papers than it is to run 1 FP in the Herald-Sun. An outrageous waste of coin. And an embarrassment.
Lowest common denominator politics. Can’t wait to see all the crap that rolls out between here and the election.
wow. a poll of 190 affluent australians. the answer must be definitive.
Wow. Using public money to rouse the people with the clever use of racism. If only we could do that with our brands – “buy our soft drink” it protects your lifestyle from dirty poor different people.
Has anyone access to the media schedule. if the government wants to target target markets like Afganis, Iraqis and Sri Lankans, these specific communities can be fairly easy to reach, and any media agency should be able to recommend a workable schedule, in particular if the people we are trying to discourage are friends and relatives of recent arrivals who are unlikely to read mainstream media.