Industry reacts to ‘No’ win: ‘The time is right to introduce federal truth in political advertising laws’
Key figures within the media and marketing industry have reacted to the ‘No’ vote emerging victorious on Saturday night’s Voice to Parliament referendum.
Over 60% of the country voted against the Voice, which backed up what early polling indicated in the week’s leading up. In fact, ACT was the only territory to count a majority vote in favour of the move.
Speaking to Mumbrella, Monash University constitutional law professor, Luke Beck, slammed the federal government, claiming it allowed misinformation and disinformation to be spread during the campaign.
“The time is right to introduce federal truth in political advertising laws along the lines of what exists in South Australia and the ACT,” Beck said.
“The federal parliament passed up an opportunity to ban misinformation and disinformation ahead of the referendum campaign. In January, Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters rejected calls to do this. The committee said ‘the forthcoming referendum is not the right time to establish a truth-in-political-advertising regime.’
“However, the same committee recommended in June that Australia adopt federal truth-in-political-advertising laws that would apply to all future federal elections and referendums.
“The culture around political campaigning in Australia should not be allowed to get worse.”
Meanwhile, Pollinate CEO Howard Parry-Husbands told Mumbrella that the brutal truth is that the ‘Yes’ campaign “never had a chance without a strong, evidence-based strategy”.
“If there’s one thing those of us in the advertising, media and marketing profession can learn from the ‘Yes’ campaign, it is that evoking an emotional response without a well-considered strategy and plan will end in tears, unintended consequences and a waste of all of your money,” Parry-Husbands said.
“It’s time to put the strategy back. Because as we’ve seen, hope without strategy is hopeless.”
Managing partner at the MrWolf agency, Tony Singleton, who has previously also been critical of the ‘Yes’ campaign, took a more optimistic approach to the result despite the resounding defeat, saying the loss should be viewed “as a chance to reframe the vote as a step on the journey rather than an end point”.
“Awareness of First Nations disadvantage is way higher than it’s been historically which can create the foundations for real change,” Singleton told Mumbrella.
“I’d also look to harness the power of the informed younger audiences by encouraging them – a la Obama’s Great Schlep – to have conversations with their older family and friends – it’s one of the few options that will be effective at shifting the entrenched views of the older generations.”
The bigger story here is how out of touch the Australian advertising industry is with the average Australian.
The advertising industry is supposed to be the voice of the consumer in boardrooms across the nation. Instead, a largely non-diverse advertising industry comprised of people under 40 living in inner urban areas of Sydney and Melbourne assumes that everyone thinks like them.
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I unfortunately the referendum result showed that people cannot always be told what to do, especially when it’s something as important as our constitution. So throwing money at the advertising is NOT the answer! it’s best to Let It Be. Let the people decide . All the media needed to do was provide well written truth about hoped for outcomes and how it was proposed to be achieved. The loss of Yes has given a very clear message that there needs to be more REAL LISTENING! We have learned a lot about the state of mind of this country in these times. Stop going on about $$ and shiny new products, it’s about listening to Real people,real hearts and mindsThe Yes campaign lost way too plastic. Humanity is not just Yes or No ! This is not an immediate matter, let’s go quietly and slowly here. It’s a nurturing process. At least this has raised awareness about the needs of First Nations people. There’s still more listening to be done. Quietly sit down on the ground and see what is heard from our Mother Earth
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Yet industry execs still don’t get it.
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