Are government ads good for us?
I'm sick of political advertisements posing as public service announcements | Has 10News+ already jumped the shark? | Farewell to a well-loved journo.
Among the things I’ve learned from watching the pre-roll ads on YouTube is that there is a better bank than the Big Four banks.
And, of course, what a great job the Queensland Government is doing.
I fully understand why Bendigo Bank has to spend money to promote itself. It’s a commercial enterprise, and it has many competitors, meaning I have a choice of who I do business with.
However, I don’t have a choice as to which government runs my state (and won’t even have a say in that for another three-and-a-bit years), and it is my money they are using to tell me how good they are.
I’m simply not sold on the need for the government — any government of any shade at any level — to spend big money bombarding me with advertisements about things that have no relevance to me.
I do understand that a certain level of advertising is important to get essential information across but, as I have said before about the council’s Brisbane Living propaganda sheet, that information can surely be distributed at less cost and with greater efficiency.
I’m getting tired of simply being reminded what a great job our “new” state government is doing.
And I’m especially tired of social-media posts and other messaging from our Premier, David Crisafulli, and his team telling us how much better they are than the previous Labor government.
I find this a huge turn-off, and I’m prepared to argue very strongly that it’s not doing the Premier or the Government any favours either.
A good government should be looking forward, not over its shoulder. Otherwise, we would have good reason to think that our leaders are living in the past.
By all means strive to do better than those who came before you. But the people of Queensland didn’t put you in power to boast about your comparative greatness; you were put there to do a job, a big part of which is to spend our money wisely.
Comparisons are dangerous, too, because inevitably there’ll be places where you fall short — and the door will be wide open for criticism because you opened that door.
For example, Mr Premier, someone might choose to point out that you are spending valuable time and money spruiking the proposed Olympics facilities at Victoria Park when nine months ago you were adamant that there would be “no new stadiums” on your watch.
If you’re going to put the past behind you on that score, forget about reminding us what Labor did or didn’t do when it was in office and start standing on your own two feet.
This is not a party-political thing, I’d say the same if the situation were reversed. Stop spending your time and taxpayers’ money pissing on the grave of your defeated rival and start proving to us that you’ve earned the right to govern and will do so responsibly.
P.S. Why invite grief by asking Donald Trump to come here? He’s a divisive character and, rightly or wrongly, his presence will be met with resistance and inevitable bad publicity. We’ll either be the place that embraced a person who is widely disliked, or the place that gave a poor reception to a significant international figure. The security bill will be enormous, and the blowback will be bad for business in general, and for tourism in particular. It’s a lose-lose proposition.
Mister Brisbane is free to read, but if you appreciate what I’m doing here, and/or
at The Wrinkle and Radio Bert, you can buy me a coffee.
Ten’s Titanic?
It’s only been on air since June 30 and already some pundits are pointing to dire ratings and asking: Will 10News+ survive or sink without trace?
The program that replaced The Project is floundering, and with big changes happening globally at the 10 network’s owner, Paramount, its viability is already being questioned.
Scheduling a news program up against two other, very successful news programs on Seven and Nine, was always going to be fraught with difficulty.
Why try to grab a slice of the same pie when you could do some less-costly counter-intuitive programming for similar, or not much worse, ratings? Repeats of Gilligan’s Island or Hogan’s Heroes, perhaps?
Here’s an idea: try starting a new, fun program at 6.15pm, which is around the time I usually feel well-enough informed by the evening news and switch over to YouTube for some light entertainment.
Farewell, Michael Beatty
As I write this, I’ve just heard about the death of Michael Beatty, one of the big names of Brisbane journalism.
Many people will remember him from the golden years of local current affairs on Brisbane television and, later, as spokesperson for the RSPCA. My condolences to his family, friends and many, many fans.
Update: The ABC has a tribute here.
Couldn't agree more Brett. I want to see the kind of government advertising we used to see in the past, usually health and safety campaigns, or why not spend the money fixing "that bridge", you know the one.