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ACCC launches short film on cartels

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has created a short film to raise awareness of cartels and collusion within trade.

The Marker, a 16-minute film on ACCC’s YouTube channel, dramatises a scenario in which an executive is caught up in a cartel.

The concept was created and produced by Melbourne hot house Burning House with a filming budget of $50,000.

The film is the backbone of the government organisation’s campaign ‘Businesses compete, cartels just cheat’. The ACCC has also released website banners and buttons for companies to include on their websites to lead back to the the ACCC’s Cartel portal for users to find more information on how the user can report suspicious activities and request a ‘marker’ – immunity when reporting their involvement in a cartel.

ACCC chairman, Rod Sims told Mumbrella: “We’re trying to get out a lot of messages and we thought a film that engages people would be better than all the stuff we put out in the press or on radio. We’re trying to give people an understanding of what a cartel is. We see people taking turns to win bids. We see it’s quite easy to get stuck in, and become an actual player in the cartel.”

“We’ve sent the film to the top 300 companies. They almost all have compliance programs. And we’re hoping it will go out more widely.”

“If you go on a morning talk show to say ‘let me talk about cartels’, I don’t think you’d capture the audience, and you may not even get on the talk show.”

The film is accompanied by two video messages:

ACCC chairman Rod Sims

QANTAS CEO Alan Joyce

On the subject of cartels in the media industry Sims told Mumbrella: “Your industry would not be one that comes to mind. You can get cartels in any area but we haven’t had an queries in your area. It’s not just tendering, it’s about how many tenderers there are. It’s where there are two big players that get together, that’s when you’ve got a problem.”

Credits:

Client:
ACCC

Crew:
Production house: Burning House
Director: Jonathan Gilbert
Producer: Timothy Anderson, Charlie Porter
Writers: Jonathan Gilbert, Timothy Anderson
DOP: Adam Howden
Art Director: Marco Damiano
Editor: Daniel Kerr

Cast:
Martin: Ben Prendergast
Gordon: Anthony West
Fiona: Kim Denman
Lucy: Tory West
Jeff: Geordie Taylor
Kate: Cate Commisso

Music:
‘One More Dance’ (Rooke/Perfect Pitch)
Lyrics, music & vocals by Jason Rooke

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