ACCC: Newspaper advertising no longer enough to reach consumers
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is the latest regulatory body to embrace the growth of social media, telling businesses that it is no longer enough to use newspaper advertising to alert consumers to product recalls.
The body found that while last year there were 779 recalls in Australia – some involving many thousands of product – in some cases consumer responses were “nearly non-existent”.
The ACCC’s “Review of the Australian product safety recall system” report which analysed the effectiveness of the current recall system outlined the changes necessary to increase awareness and recall response rates.
The ACCC’s deputy chair Peter Kell said:
The report recommends suppliers be expected to develop recall communication plans that target consumers based on demographics and communication preferences, including making greater use of social media and online forms of communication such as websites and blogs to advertise product recalls.
“I am particularly excited about the use of social media to tell consumers about product recalls.
“The days of relying just on newspaper advertisements as the major method of communication are past.”
The recommendations will be added to the new recall guidelines created for businesses.
The ACCC said that it is also changing the way it communicates its messages, becoming more active on Twitter, developing a new recall widget, blogging, sending direct emails to industry associations and stake holders.
It follows moves by the Australian Communications and Media Authority earlier this year to bring in former Sydney Morning Herald executive editor, Tom Burton, to create its social media and “engagement” strategy.
Burton has taken on the new role of executive manager of Gov2.0 external communications and stakeholders.
ACMA defines Gov2.0 as “the use of new media applications such as Facebook, wikis, blogs, social media apps like YouTube and Flickr, and instant messaging tools including Twitter, to give users more open access to Government information and processes”.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
Linkedin
This is very significant news. Cue the doomsday bell ringers “Bring our your dead (newspapers). Bring out your dead (newspapers)”
User ID not verified.
Contrary to popular belief, you can add social media to your existing channels. It doesn’t have to replace them.
I don’t believe you, Ben. In fact when I get home I’m destroying my TV.
User ID not verified.
But Ben S, most marketers are lazy and or stupid. They don’t want to add things. They want one thing to do everything.
User ID not verified.
Hold on, can anyone pass this message to Stephen Conroy? Maybe he can figure in some incentives for the newspaper industry to keep them profitable …
User ID not verified.