Marketing Clown

Written By: - Date published: 7:10 am, November 27th, 2012 - 70 comments
Categories: Environment, john key - Tags: , ,

There are some similar things between McDonald’s and New Zealand – they’re both currently run by a clown at any rate – but I didn’t think cynical marketing was one of them.

Apparently Key is “lovin’ it” how our rivers and lakes are far from “100% Pure”.  At least he’s not “lovin’ it” all the time, you’ve got to take these things with a pinch of salt you understand.

Is this a new standard of information from the New Zealand Government?  When Key says he didn’t know Dotcom’s name before that day of the MegaRaidTM, he only means most of the time?  Should we take that with a pinch of salt?  What about when he says he’s forgotten most of the facts about Dotcom?  How ‘salty’ was it when he said he voted for the drinking age to stay at 20?  Or those promises to get the Pike River miners‘ bodies out?  Is this all just acceptable marketing, and people don’t expect the truth all the time?

Notably the New Zealand Association of Scientists don’t take their “facts” with a pinch of salt:

“The clear statement is that the potential damage to New Zealand’s reputation, and economic benefit of “big-spending American tourists” outweighs the need for truth in public debate. This is an issue that the association takes very seriously.”

Ah, truth, do we have to be brought back to that?

—

As one of many facts that Key dismisses because he “knows” otherwise, the unemployment rate couldn’t possibly be so high (7.3% – a record since Bill English was last Finance Minister…) because there weren’t enough people on the jobseekers benefit.

And now we have a good example of why: Winz telling eligible beneficiaries they can’t apply because they haven’t yet spent all their (union-negotiated) redundancy and then some…

“They said I have to wait for my redundancy [pay] to run out and then I have to wait another four to six weeks until I have actually gone broke,” she said.

When we won’t even give unemployed people desperately seeking work the unemployment benefit it may be less of a surprise why your stats don’t add up…

70 comments on “Marketing Clown ”

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  1. Descendant Of Smith 1
    27 November 2012 at 7:35 am

    Here’s an earlier post and links to WINZ policy around stand-downs.

    http://thestandard.org.nz/john-key-business-to-blame/#comment-378022

    It’s sad that not only mis-information is floating around but that WINZ staff can’t get their own policies right.

    • Lanthanide 1.1
      27 November 2012 at 10:52 am

      Anyone know if these claims are back-datable?

      My dad got a very hefty redundancy payout from his last job in 2009 and was told by WINZ he wasn’t eligible for unemployment benefit because he had to use it up first. Any chance he could back-claim for that benefit?

      • Descendant Of Smith 1.1.1
        27 November 2012 at 2:24 pm

        It is possible the rules were different then. In the 80s redundancy pay was treated differently and I’m not sure of all the changes since then.

        The policy linked to is the current policy.

        A local advocacy group could find out the policy that applied at the time your father was made redundant. Check too how much of the redundancy was holiday pay retiring leave etc. those count as days still working.

        Also see what evidence exists in your fathers or their records e.g. Record of phone call.

        You generally have 3 months to review but can go outside of that for good reason.

        It is always better to apply and get a decision than simply take verbal advice. That’s the most important advice I ever gave as an advocate. Still holds true.

  2. robertguyton 2
    27 November 2012 at 8:12 am

    Equating ‘Loving it’ and ‘100% Pure’ is classic Key-think, the former being subjective and the latter quantitative, but that doesn’t matter to Key, he can find plenty of other experts who will say the opposite and anyway, a shrug heals all hurts and he’s not bothered.
    The sad thing is that people seem to swallow Key’s bullshit as it it was Farex.

  3. vto 3
    27 November 2012 at 8:30 am

    Yep this government is a total circus.

    Never more so than in Christchurch. Watch as the real people participants in the Christchurch rebuild are beginning to step back and say “lets just wait and let this bozo circus step up to the plate first”. Bozo Brownlee has created himself a millstone that everybody is beginning to notice. The heat is draining away from the blueprint. The people, sidelined, now watch from the sideline content with their hamper and picnic table. They are now used to the lack of a dining table. Less is beginning to happen. Christchurch is on the road to becoming New Zealands largest ever white elephant. It’s biggest donut.

    The bully boy bozos of this government and their contempt for the people of Christchurch and Canterbury are beginning to have an effect and it is not good. Such a shame.

  4. karol 4
    27 November 2012 at 8:38 am

    Good op ed piece from the Manwatu Standard yesterday on branding, marketing and the 100% pure issue.

    Most people understand that advertising is about creating and enhancing desire, pulling a heartstring or two and selling a concept.

    The collision with truth and integrity is where things can get interesting….

    Perfection is a high standard, so it is clever or fortunate that we stay vague about where exactly we’re free of contamination. Completely free, absolutely free – not even a minuscule detectable level of impurity, you understand….

    Well, I do not accept it is to our long-term advantage to promote nonsense, and – even if there is a compelling economic case – integrity is more important.It is also a bad look for any marketing person to lecture anyone else about motives behind messages….

    Talk of Dr Joy being a traitor is silly given that 12-year-old pupils in Palmerston North are capable of coming to the same conclusion he has – that environmental purity has not been achieved in this nation. Nor has it been achieved in any nation, but New Zealand set itself up for a fall by being loose with its language.

    Mr Unsworth was plainly upset Dr Joy dared embarrass the country by questioning a flawed message.
     
    But the negative publicity was inevitable. One way to reduce the chances of being hurt by negative publicity is not to say preposterous things in the first place.

    Grant Miller is the Manawatu Standard’s head of content and a politics junkie.

    • vto 4.1
      27 November 2012 at 8:54 am

      “Well, I do not accept it is to our long-term advantage to promote nonsense, and – even if there is a compelling economic case – integrity is more important.It is also a bad look for any marketing person to lecture anyone else about motives behind messages…. ”

      karol, this part of Grant Miller’s piece would seem to encapsulate the integrity (or lack of) of Unsworth, NZ Herald anonymous editorial, and Minister Tim Groser.

      Their modus operandi is on display for all to see. They cannot be believed again.

      • muzza 4.1.1
        27 November 2012 at 9:15 am

        Their modus operandi is on display for all to see. They cannot be believed again.

        Oh but they will be, its just that “they” will have a different name, perhaps like Norman, Robertson, Parker , pick a name….people will believe/hope/beg for change!

        This country is run on corruption, (it could not be more clear these days), which propagates because these are people who can be controlled. They can be controlled because they have known actions in their pasts/present, which have/is/will be used against them.

        To think this is not happening is to believe in the tooth fairy!

        • vto 4.1.1.1
          27 November 2012 at 10:16 am

          Oh yes you have a point that the last labour lot also ran deception afetr deception to achieve their political ends. There is no doubt.

          But what I see in the current lot is a corruption, as you say, and a deceit that far outstrips the last lot. This National lot are liars and thieves to an extent I don’t think NZ has witnessed probably ever. That is my opinion.

  5. TightyRighty 5
    27 November 2012 at 9:03 am

    So it’s not ok to have a marketing campaign that claims that new zealand is 100% pure, but it is ok for labour to run an election campaign based on promises they can’t possibly fund as stated? “show me the money”

    Fun police, those in glass houses, he that is without sin etc

    • Colonial Viper 5.1
      27 November 2012 at 9:13 am

      Weird how the two are unrelated

      Also weird how Righties have to spread a lack of belief in NZers. This time, claiming that we can’t build a pathetic 10,000 houses per year.

      • Rob 5.1.1
        27 November 2012 at 9:23 am

        Its not the 10K houses pa, we are building 16K pa now. Its the belief that you can pick up 50,000 odd sections in Auckland for $50K a piece. This is the best bit of comedygold to go down in our smoko room for a long time. People in Akl are not idiots and they understand house prices and land costs.

      • TightyRighty 5.1.2
        27 November 2012 at 1:28 pm

        Wierd how marketing for the labour party to attract votes has no possible relationship to NZ trying to attract tourists using marketing? yeah I can see how you might think that. But any excuse to attack the government right? It’s so funny how the traditional labour in opposition attack meme’s just aren’t being used at all. It’s like somehow labour and it’s supporters somehow believe that NZer’s don’t care about education and housing, or is it tacit acceptance that national is doing a good job. Such a good job in fact the only attacks labour and it’s supporters can come up with are only slightly connected to the real issues. Like trying to attack a positive marketing campaign in the middle of a worldwide recession where every country is fighting for tourist dollars. Such a smart move.

        NZ can build 10K of houses in a year, the government can’t. look at the insulation and schools program in australia. also under a labour government.

        • Draco T Bastard 5.1.2.1
          27 November 2012 at 4:14 pm

          It’s like somehow labour and it’s supporters somehow believe that NZer’s don’t care about education and housing, or is it tacit acceptance that national is doing a good job.

          It could be that and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was that. Labour is, after all, a centre-right party that believes in the free-market almost as much as National and Act do. This is why we really need Labour to become a minor party.

          • TheContrarian 5.1.2.1.1
            27 November 2012 at 4:38 pm

            Labour is a centre-left party…I know, I know, you’ll produce that same graph again.

            I tell you what though, what don’t provide some evidence from a political scientist or a professor rather than a graph from peoples unknown?

          • TheContrarian 5.1.2.1.2
            27 November 2012 at 5:51 pm

            For a laff I did the test as I thought most closely resembled Labour’s policies and got well into the left.

    • redfred 5.2
      27 November 2012 at 9:23 am

      You can have any sort of marketing campaign you like, but the facts are NZ environment image is unraveling.

      Dam those reporters and scientist for telling the truth.

      We know Planet Key would have that beached whaleoil heading up the Truth Police and carrying out the promised punishments for breaching the official version of truth & reality.

      The Orwellian nature of Keys fudged reality and Unsworth attack on science should scare the hell out of all of us.

    • Tom Gould 5.3
      27 November 2012 at 9:23 am

      Or a campaign promising a brighter future then driving the economy into the ground and delivering 170,000 out of work? Is that what you mean, Tighty?

    • Ben Clark 5.4
      27 November 2012 at 11:04 am

      a) so your best response is “they did it too” – you admit it is wrong then?
      and
      b) your example is then wrong – labour’s policies were fully costed by independent economists and seen to add up – surplus 1 year later, pay off the debt in the same year.

      Next time, try some facts.

      • TightyRighty 5.4.1
        27 November 2012 at 3:24 pm

        No, my response is that it is marketing but if you are going to nitpick your own marketing should stand up to the same scrutiny.

        If labour’s policies were fully costed and were seen, through rose tinted spectacles, to add up how come Phil Goff couldn’t show us the money?

        • One Tāne Huna 5.4.1.1
          27 November 2012 at 3:30 pm

          I always thought Goff’s best response would have been simply to dump a ream of paper in front of the airhead shill and say: “here’s the money, fool.”

          Or were you taken in by the airhead shill pretending that a government budget can be explained in a soundbite?

        • Draco T Bastard 5.4.1.2
          27 November 2012 at 4:17 pm

          to add up how come Phil Goff couldn’t show us the money?

          He did – just not at the debate. You, being a RWNJ, would have forgotten that minor detail though as it goes against your beliefs.

          • TightyRighty 5.4.1.2.1
            27 November 2012 at 5:28 pm

            None of figures stacked up, no matter how much the fanbois wanted it to. no soundbites for you though, you haven’t passed economics. How much would the much vaunted CGT have raised by now? how many times over was that same amount spent on different things?

            • Draco T Bastard 5.4.1.2.1.1
              27 November 2012 at 8:10 pm

              You do realise that Labour’s CGT wasn’t the money earner don’t you? It was the 39% tax rate. The CGT would raise some income for government but it’s real job was to alter the incentives for investment.

    • Tracey 5.5
      27 November 2012 at 12:15 pm

      what a strange comment. If you really do get upset about campaign promises that can’t or won’t be kept you can’t have voted national for a very long time?

      • TightyRighty 5.5.1
        27 November 2012 at 3:27 pm

        What’s strange about it? I know your intellectual inconsistency, AKA doublethink, allows you to believe that only the national party in government and a marketing campaign thought up by tourism new zealand should be so perfect and correct while the labour party lies it way through an election with a dubious marketing campaign. I at least am being consistent in my criticism of this criticism, as I am with most things.

        • Tracey 5.5.1.1
          27 November 2012 at 3:30 pm

          Are you saying you didn’t vote for National in 2008 and 2011? If so then you are correct to state you are being consistent.

          I didn’t vote for labour or National and do not condone lying by either. That seems to have rather put a fly in the ointment of your knowledge of my intellectual inconsistency. So, simple question, did you vote for National in 2008 and/or 2011 TR?

          • TightyRighty 5.5.1.1.1
            27 November 2012 at 4:10 pm

            I Don’t see how voting National is being inconsistent with my statements today? I accept changes have to be made due to circumstance and not everything promised will be as such. That’s why I can quite rightly critique this criticism. Because it’s bullshit. a cheap and irrelevant attack by individuals and groups grasping at straws. I don’t demand perfection from the opposition, i demand an opposition that has intellectual integrity, I won’t get it till National lose however.

            sanctimony reigns supreme on your posts doesn’t it? Right on

            • Draco T Bastard 5.5.1.1.1.1
              27 November 2012 at 4:21 pm

              I Don’t see how voting National is being inconsistent with my statements today?

              Because by voting National you show that you’re fine with their lying and not keeping of promises.

              i demand an opposition that has intellectual integrity, I won’t get it till National lose however.

              That’s the bit you don’t get and never will because you’re incapable of believing anything negative about your leaders. I’ll spell it out simply for you:

              National have no integrity at all.

              How do you tell if a National MP is lying? Their mouths are moving.

              • TightyRighty …
                27 November 2012 at 5:31 pm

                I am not demanding perfection of every utterance and every campaign from national. I see DPF posted the herald editorial that makes the point that this “academic” totally undoes there academic argument by indulging in hyperbole. which has been my point consistently. Don’t throw stones in glass houses. Trust lefty, right on, fucktards like DTB to not see the orwellian doublethink they are indulging in.

                • Draco T Bastard …
                  27 November 2012 at 8:13 pm

                  I am not demanding perfection of every utterance and every campaign from national.

                  You’re not even demanding mild standards like not lying.

                  Trust lefty, right on, fucktards like DTB to not see the orwellian doublethink they are indulging in.

                  What doublethink?

    • mike e 5.6
      27 November 2012 at 10:37 pm

      !00% pure BS from the Right!Most of it comes from national voting farmers and ends up in our streams rivers lakes and aqua firs!
      $1billion + on AMI bail out!
      $1billion+ on SCF!

  6. Blue 6
    27 November 2012 at 9:36 am

    John Key knows a lot about bullshit marketing. Anyone remember ‘Building a Brighter Future’ or ‘Ambitious for New Zealand?’

    How about ‘Wave goodbye to higher taxes, not your loved ones’?

    Best taken with an entire salt mine I think.

  7. BM 7
    27 November 2012 at 9:38 am

    All it looks like to the average man/woman in the streets is that once again the left are purposely trying to throw spanners into the works in an attempt to make National look bad.

    Who gives a fuck about the amount of money that will get wasted, the lost job opportunities and creation of wealth that’s badly needed in NZ., if political points can be scored against the evil tories.

    I can tell you who do give a fuck though, the NZ voter.

    • vto 7.1
      27 November 2012 at 9:50 am

      Fuck the money.

      I would like to swim in and drink from our rivers. How many rivers and creeks are safe to swim in or to drink from in the developed parts of the North Island?

      Fucking gross man – money money money ….. while living in shit. What would be the point BM?

      • BM 7.1.1
        27 November 2012 at 9:56 am

        You haven’t been able to safely drink water from a NZ stream for a long long time.

        Tourists washing out their water filters put an end to that.

        • freedom 7.1.1.1
          27 November 2012 at 10:07 am

          i guess the millions of tonnes of toxic crap that agricultural/industrial sectors have dumped into our environment over the last fifty years is just a coincidinky then?

        • vto 7.1.1.2
          27 November 2012 at 10:14 am

          “You haven’t been able to safely drink water from a NZ stream for a long long time.”

          Exactly BM. Because people have been dumping the shit from their homes and their businesses into the public estate for far too long. This is now apparent. It is easily fixed but it is not being fixed – especially with the lard arses in this government. It seems you, like them, have no plan to clean up the house.

          So I repeat my question to you “Fucking gross man – money money money ….. while living in shit. What would be the point BM?”

        • Tracey 7.1.1.3
          27 November 2012 at 12:17 pm

          Where DO you get your information? Are you on hallucinogenics?

    • fisiani 7.2
      27 November 2012 at 11:30 am

      Quite right. The NZ voter cannot stand the Hobbit Haters of Labour who will brazenly walk the red carpet as total hypocrites. Grant (…) Robertson will smile and wave and self promote then head for the buffet table and the free wine.
      National is about onwards and progress. Labour is stuck in backwards and nay saying.
      I cannot understand the Labour strategy of constantly bagging every step of New Zealand progress to somehow bring down John Key. It is a spectacular own goal. It is one of the many reasons that the National party vote rose in 2011 from the result in 2008 despite the worst economic circumstances in living memory.
      100% pure is just advertising speak. No one ever dreamed it would be taken literally. The people who did so are perhaps best described as the clowns.

      • Lanthanide 7.2.1
        27 November 2012 at 12:18 pm

        “National is about onwards and progress. Labour is stuck in backwards and nay saying.”

        I see that you really sucked up that silly ad National ran before the last election with the ‘stop’ and ‘go’ road signs.

        • fisiani 7.2.1.1
          27 November 2012 at 12:45 pm

          Mining National GO Labour STOP
          Fishing National GO Labour STOP
          Forestry National GO Labour STOP
          Hobbit National GO Labour STOP
          Tourism National GO Labour STOP
          Reform National GO Labour STOP
          Education National GO Labour STOP

          And you call it a silly ad…… it has turned out to be prophetic.

          • Lanthanide 7.2.1.1.1
            27 November 2012 at 2:53 pm

            🙄

          • thatguynz 7.2.1.1.2
            27 November 2012 at 4:12 pm

            You could write Nationals advertising hoardings for the next election Fisiani.  They wouldn’t actually be factual and would appeal solely to the “reality tv” generation but that would be ok right?

          • mike e 7.2.1.1.3
            27 November 2012 at 10:50 pm

            Mining national 29 dead no new jobs !
            Fishing slaving national not doing anything till 2014!
            Forestry carbon offsets dead in the water!
            hobbit national caved in and paid more than necessary just to break unions!
            Reform means more poverty for more people!
            Education National fuck up education again no benefit for reforms only higher cost to taxpayer!

      • Tracey 7.2.2
        27 November 2012 at 12:18 pm

        “despite the worst economic circumstances in living memory.” Many people are alive who remember the great depression… Or do you not value the elderly?

      • Draco T Bastard 7.2.3
        27 November 2012 at 4:24 pm

        National is about onwards and progress.

        Nope, National is about destroying the environment and society for their own personal gain.

      • mike e 7.2.4
        27 November 2012 at 10:43 pm

        Fishy fool manufacturing the productive sector tourism farming are all down spending is up !
        Housing speculation and shares are heading towards a cliff!

    • Tracey 7.3
      27 November 2012 at 12:16 pm

      There he goes again, speaking on behalf of the people in the streets. Do you work for a living BM, or maybe you are a busker???

  8. redfred 8
    27 November 2012 at 10:14 am

    BM – left right ? political points, what the fuck.

    You mean big business trying to have their cake and eat it too? Then getting nasty when the obvious truth gets pointed out.

    How about safely swimming in the water then? Our lowland rivers are full of fecal matter and other toxic shit directly related to dairy intensification. It is about as far away from PURE as you can get.

    Jobs and a fucked environment don’t need go hand in hand, if the spin was a true and accurate picture of what NZ is about then we would be having this discussion.

    I would like us to measure up to the spin; if we worked towards it that would create jobs and wealth that would be sustainable for generations to come.

    • BM 8.1
      27 November 2012 at 10:59 am

      We never can, think off hand there’s only 5% of native forest left.
      The rest has been cleared for farming(Colonists), hunting Moa, planting Kumera crops(Maori).

      The 100% clean and green has always been BS, but it provides jobs and money for the country.

      • locus 8.1.1
        27 November 2012 at 11:19 am

        unbelievable that supposed ‘marketing’ gurus think it’s okay to say 100% pure and then not give a damn about the environmental degradation going on around them killing their goose. No more golden eggs for NZ tourism.

        Spending a fotune to get here and then finding out your kids get sick if they paddle in the streams, and that you can’t fill your canteen on a bushwalk is news that soon gets around.

        Mind you who gives a damn about tourism if you can increase your profits by not treating the milking shed effluent you’re quietly discharging into the local river.

      • Tracey 8.1.2
        27 November 2012 at 12:21 pm

        You are wrong. There is a river in Marlborough (Wakamarina) which in 2005 was one of 5% of NZ rivers you could drink from according to WHO standards. What you don’t know (which apparently isn’t much) you make up!

      • William 8.1.3
        27 November 2012 at 1:40 pm

        You’re also very wrong on your recollection of 5% native forest cover.

        Ministry for Environment place native land cover as 43.7%.

        That page gives the area in various types of native land cover, native forest itself is about 24%, as stated by this DoC page.

      • fender 8.1.4
        27 November 2012 at 8:54 pm

        You sure have a cheek coming on here making up shit you have no knowledge about B(loody) M(oron).
        So how much land was cleared by the early Maori as they lay in waiting for Moa on the tracks that the huge bird had itself made through the forest?

        I guess this acting the clown was the brighter future we have been patiently waiting for.

  9. BLiP 9
    27 November 2012 at 2:10 pm

    .

    So, where did we get to, John?

    I’m Jewish/Christian/Agnostic
    1981
    Tranzrail shares
    Lord Ashcroft
    National Ltd™ would have sent troops into Iraq
    Standard & Poors
    “I didn’t say I want wages to drop”
    “I won’t raise GST:
    Capping, not cutting the public service,
    “tax cuts north of $50 a week”
    Privatisation won’t significantly help the economy
    Wave goodbye to higher taxes, not your loved ones
    “I never offered Brash a diplomatic job in London”
    National Ltd™ won’t touch Kiwisaver
    National Ltd™ is not going to radically reorganise the structure of the public sector
    Tax cuts won’t require additional borrowing
    National Ltd™ will tender out the government banking contract
    “We [NZ] have grown for eight of the last nine quarters”
    “…we will be back in surplus by 2014-15…”
    “…unemployment is starting to fall…”
    “…we have created 45,000 jobs…”
    “…we are likely to create 170,000 jobs in the next 4 years…”
    “I don’t own a vineyard”
    The Isreali spy killed in the Christchurch quake had “only one” passport
    The Police will not need to make savings by losing jobs
    GCSB x 3 (that we know about)
    “I voted to keep the drinking age at 20″
    New Zealand is 100% pure””

    . . . thanks, dude, I’m lovin’ it.

    • Tracey 9.1
      27 November 2012 at 3:32 pm

      If you took what Fisiani and BM take you would be happy, at least…

    • rosy 9.2
      27 November 2012 at 10:39 pm

      Great list, and it’s not like he doesn’t know what lying is

      Lying is that you knowingly and deceitfully mislead people… I don’t lie about anything. I don’t always give you the answer you might want to hear because that’s prudent. But I don’t lie about things.

      Seems to me there’s a sneaky little transition from ‘lying’ to ‘marketing’ in there as well. I’m lovin’ it too.

  10. unicus 10
    28 November 2012 at 12:58 pm

    Ronald Mc Donald – How apt for a Prime Minister who’s grinning visage screens the activities of the most damaging government since Muldoon’s . Not unlike the real (sic) Ronald smiling and dancing while his corporation destroys the health of children .

  11. gobsmacked 11
    28 November 2012 at 7:52 pm

    MPs don’t read blogs.

    Here’s what happened in Parliament today (from Claire Trevett, Herald):

    Labour’s Annette King managed to get the last word a bit later – reminding Parliament about the Prime Minister’s recent comparison of the 100 per cent Pure campaign to McDonald’s advertisements.

    “That may be true,” Mrs King mused. “Because the thing New Zealand and McDonald’s have in common is that they are both run by clowns.”

    So, MPs don’t read blogs.

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