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By Greg Fingas, on May 24, 2013, at 9:46 am Assorted content to end your week.
- For all the talk of fraud and cover-ups among the Cons this week, the most important story on that front looks to be the release of Judge Mosley’s decision on Robocon – featuring findings of fact based on the best evidence presented by the Cons (and affected voters) that the 2011 election was marred by electoral fraud facilitated by the Cons’ voter database, and that the first Cons covered it up by destroying the records which would have allowed investigators to determine who was actually responsible, then engaged in questionable tactics to keep (Read more…)
By The Liberal Scarf, on May 11, 2013, at 9:43 am After years of using your tax dollars for partisan self promotion, the Conservatives want $20 million more of your tax dollars to keep the ball rolling. Every time you see a taxpayer funded ad while watching the playoffs, that’s $95,000 of your tax dollars. That same amount could create 32 summer jobs for youth, which would really help the economy.
PS: Here’s what it looks like when a government actually cares more about ensuring youth are an active part of the economy.
By The Liberal Scarf, on May 11, 2013, at 9:43 am After years of using your tax dollars for partisan self promotion, the Conservatives want $20 million more of your tax dollars to keep the ball rolling. Every time you see a taxpayer funded ad while watching the playoffs, that’s $95,000 of your tax dollars. That same amount could create 32 summer jobs for youth, which would really help the economy.
PS: Here’s what it looks like when a government actually cares more about ensuring youth are an active part of the economy.
By Greg Fingas, on May 10, 2013, at 10:47 am Predictably, the Cons are running through their Rolodex of excuses as to why they’re spending public money on partisan media monitoring – with the answer being that they want to make sure that PR stunts achieve additional partisan goals: The prime minister’s spokesman Andrew MacDougall told HuffPost PCO tracks the coverage of their backbench MPs because they make announcements on behalf of the government all the time. “Of course the government wants to know what kind of coverage gets generated from those announcements,” he said.
But the Cons’ abuse of announcement opportunities is far from a new issue. So I’ll (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on May 8, 2013, at 1:02 pm Yes, there’s plenty of reason to wonder what the Canadian public is getting for millions of dollars in ads intended to advertise…nothing at all. But I’ll point out that the answer may be even worse than one might suspect at first glance.
Here’s the background to the latest set of ad spending: Taxpayer-funded government ads are supposed to inform citizens about programs and services, according to Treasury Board guidelines.
But when the Conservatives recently put out a tender for a major new ad agency contract that could see the feel-good “economic action plan” brand continued until 2016, they highlighted (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on May 8, 2013, at 1:02 pm Yes, there’s plenty of reason to wonder what the Canadian public is getting for millions of dollars in ads intended to advertise…nothing at all. But I’ll point out that the answer may be even worse than one might suspect at first glance.
Here’s the background to the latest set of ad spending: Taxpayer-funded government ads are supposed to inform citizens about programs and services, according to Treasury Board guidelines.
But when the Conservatives recently put out a tender for a major new ad agency contract that could see the feel-good “economic action plan” brand continued until 2016, they highlighted (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on May 4, 2013, at 12:34 pm This and that for your weekend reading.
- Helene Leblanc argues that we should make sure the Internet is treated as a commons accessible to all, rather than a privilege denied to many (particularly in rural areas): Many Canadians living outside urban centres do not have access to high speed broadband Internet and a significant number connect at speeds of 1.5 megabits per second — only marginally faster than dial-up.
In the year 2000 Estonia declared Internet access a fundamental human right, something essential for life in the 21st century, and launched a program to expand rural access. Finland (Read more…)
By Jeff Jedras, on April 24, 2013, at 11:30 am As mentioned earlier, the Liberal Party of Canada this morning released two new ads featuring Justin Trudeau that will be running on television and online, one in English and one in French (you can donate here to help keep them on the air). Both are similar in tone, although only the English one responds directly to the personally negative Conservative ad campaign. We needed to respond Content aside, I’m pleased that we’ve responded at all. And we had to, for several reasons. For one, Liberals have been asked several times in recent years to donate in order (Read more…) respond to Conservative attack ads. When ads were ran against Bob Rae, the party asked for money for a response; Liberals donated, the party never responded. At the time I outlined why a response would be problematic, but those Liberals that donated certainly expected one. We also voted at the . . . → Read More: A BCer in Toronto: Thoughts on the new Liberal/Justin Trudeau ads
By Jeff Jedras, on April 24, 2013, at 7:45 am The Liberals and Justin Trudeau now have ads of their own, and they stand in stark contrast to the negative Conservative personal attack ads of last week. Take a look:
And a French ad that’s a little different visually:
Have to run; I’ll have some thoughts later.
By Greg Fingas, on April 21, 2013, at 12:10 pm Assorted content for your Sunday reading.
- I wouldn’t go as far as Haroon Siddiqui in suggesting that all temporary foreign worker programs be shut down entirely (at least absent some concurrent change to encourage a flow of new workers who are able to set down roots in Canada). But he’s dead on in his scathing assessment of the Cons’ current version: Now Canada is flooded with temporary workers — 338,189 as of December 2012. In fact, there may be more. Ottawa has no way of knowing how many stayed behind at the end of their temporary visas. Canada has (Read more…) exit controls.
They were all brought in ostensibly because of extensive skilled labour shortages. But with 1.33 million jobless, there’s no shortage of labour for the 250,000 job vacancies. That’s nearly six jobless Canadians for every available job.
As for skills shortages, there are certainly some. . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
By Greg Fingas, on April 20, 2013, at 5:13 pm Assorted content for your weekend reading.
- Daniel Cohn theorizes that the only real problem with RBC’s outsourcing of Canadian jobs is that they called attention to the government policies which facilitated that outcome. But for those of us who think there’s actually a problem with an economy designed around minimizing wages and employment, Susan McIsaac and Matthew Mendelsohn offer some suggestions to turn the tide. And Tavia Grant points out that the Cons’ preference for cheap, disposable foreign labour might help employers, but certainly doesn’t produce positive results for Canada as a whole.
- In the same vein, Andrew (Read more…) discusses how the last great set of attacks on workers in the name of economic efficiency proved an utter failure in producing any policy outcome other than increased inequality: Thatcherism did not provide an enduring solution to the problem of how to attain stable growth. Business profitability was . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
By Ezra Winton, on April 20, 2013, at 3:26 pm
I can’t stand most advertising but this ad for a public bus service in Denmark is hands down the bomb. Hollywood pack your bags (and get on the bus).
By Jeff Jedras, on April 18, 2013, at 11:37 pm On Thursday morning a London radio station, FM96 (which may or may not have London’s best rock) uploaded a humorous video parody of the Conservative Party of Canada’s anti-Justin Trudeau attack ads. Essentially, the “Conservatives” warned electing Trudeau meant “four years of your wife wanting to sleep with the Prime Minister.” Better, therefore, to stick with Stephen Harper.
A humorous parody of over the top attack ads, to be sure, and one that was widely shared on social media during the day. Until late afternoon, when the video was suddenly pulled from YouTube. Clicking play left one with the (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on April 18, 2013, at 9:02 am Here, building off of my previous analysis on the current positioning of Canada’s federal parties.
For further reading, see:- Bob Hepburn and Carol Goar on the purpose and effect of attack ads in general; and- Andrew Coyne on the Cons’ particular brand of personal attack, featuring some suggestions to reduce the amount of negative advertising.
By Greg Fingas, on April 16, 2013, at 10:52 pm Following up on this morning’s post on the federal political scene, I’ll offer a few observations on the Cons’ immediate attack ad against Justin Trudeau:
Now, I’ve pointed out before that the Cons’ previous attack ads against Lib leaders succeeded precisely because they made claims which were so vague as to be unfalsifiable. And by that standard, there would indeed be substantial risk in an attempt to define Trudeau as comic relief (which would seemingly allow him to defeat the Cons’ definition simply by avoiding the most massive of gaffes) or as inexperienced (which falls under the category of self-defeating
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: The first move
By Greg Fingas, on April 16, 2013, at 9:58 am This and that for your Tuesday reading.
- George Monbiot comments on the outsized influence of advertisers on children: How many people believe this makes the world a better place? A company called TenNine has hung hoardings in the corridors and common rooms of 750 British schools. Among its clients are Nike, Adidas, Orange, Tesco and Unilever. It boasts that its “high impact platform delivers right to the heart of the 11-18 year old market“.
Other firms are closing in. Boomerang Media, which represents Sega, Atari, Virgin, Umbro and others, has persuaded schools to distribute Revlon perfume samples
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
By Jeff Jedras, on April 16, 2013, at 8:00 am The day after Justin Trudeau was elected leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, as predictably as the sun rises in the East, the Conservatives did what the Conservatives do – they released negative personal attack ads. It’s all they know how to do. And it has worked for them before (see Dion, Stephen and Ignatieff, Michael). Will they make it a hat trick? Time will tell, but it was interesting, as these ads were released, to read a new poll from Ekos. I said the other day to ignore the polls, and that advice holds, particularly the . . . → Read More: A BCer in Toronto: Justin Trudeau won’t be so easy to ill-define
By Ezra Winton, on March 24, 2013, at 11:25 pm The Huffington Post has come to be known as a reliable news source for sleazy celebrity raunch, violent sensationalism and mindless drivel. From time to time the liberal news site does produce good stories, but the Huffpost still shows its profit over morals design even when those green stems rise above the grey muck.
Take today’s post about the offensive advert for Ford India showing a Berlusconi lookalike flashing the peace sign as he gets into his Ford Figo with an impressive boot (trunk) large enough to store three bound and gagged scantily clad women (one of whom is crying).
(Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on February 28, 2013, at 8:52 am This and that for your Thursday reading.
- Molly Ball writes about the false assumptions underlying far too much political discussion – with one looming as particularly significant for Canadian purposes: 5. Campaign ads really, really, really don’t make much difference.
In this part of the paper, Fiorina’s exasperation becomes palpable. Political scientists have studied the effect of campaign media for decades and consistently found it to be very small. But that doesn’t stop commentators from talking endlessly about the potential effects of ads. “I shall say no more about this, because given the long history of the disjunction, it
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
By Greg Fingas, on February 18, 2013, at 10:17 am Miscellanous material for your Monday reading.
- Will Hutton recognizes that an unregulated market can lead to disastrous results for everybody concerned – and that conversely, effective regulation can help to ensure the success of businesses which best meet the long-term needs of their workers and customers: What the Paterson worldview has never understood is that effective regulation is a source of competitive advantage. If Britain had a tough Food Standards Agency, it would become a gold standard for food quality, labelling and hygiene. British supermarkets and food companies could become known for their quality at home and abroad, rather
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
By laura k, on February 16, 2013, at 9:00 am The current New Yorker stories by Joseph Mitchell has given me an opportunity to post something I’ve been meaning to share for ages.
Last September, Jill Lepore unearthed an incredible bit of history, a piece of the American past that is alive with us today, and more dangerous than ever. (I am generally interested in anything Lepore writes; last year I gushed over her reviews of books about Clarence Darrow, one of my abiding heroes.)
In this piece, Lepore writes about the roots of political advertising – the falsehoods and trickery, the lies and slander, the deception and
. . . → Read More: wmtc: two great reads from the new yorker, part 2: jill lepore on political advertising
By Rob Maguire, on February 15, 2013, at 3:27 pm
Clipped from CBC.ca last year, this unfortunate little gem illustrates how contextual advertising may not always showcase your brand in a flattering environment. As they say, buyer beware. (Click the image to enlarge.)
By Greg Fingas, on February 5, 2013, at 9:07 am This and that for your Tuesday reading.
- The CP reports on the Canadian applicants rejected by HD Mining as it chose instead to staff its Murray River coal project solely with low-rights temporary immigrant workers: The unions, which are more broadly seeking a judicial review of Ottawa’s decision to issue permits to the workers in the first place, say their findings justify the legal challenge.
They filed documents to the Federal Court late Friday outlining some of the qualifications found within the tossed resumes.
One applicant had more than 30 years of wide-ranging and extensive experience in all aspects
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
By redtory, on February 4, 2013, at 8:16 am Standing out by a country mile from the slew of rubbish advertisements sponsoring this year’s Super Bowl broadcast, The Richards Group agency down in Texas crafted this perfect, brilliant little gem for Chrysler’s Dodge Ram truck brand:
There’s little doubt this ad will hit home with its target demographic, but I suspect it also has sentimental appeal to a much broader audience; perhaps even including atheistic heathens that would have normally winced at the prospect of listening to Paul Harvey’s unctuous God-bothering treacle, don’t farm and, in fact, have no ostensible need whatsoever for a truck.
Quite simply, it is
By The Arbourist, on February 2, 2013, at 2:43 pm Coming to work today I was listening to the CBC morning news there was the usual doom and gloom, but what was remarkable was the amount of time devoted to telling Canadians about how awesome the commercials were going to be for the Superbowl and the lengths people were going to get the American cable feeds to be able to watch the commercials.
To watch the commercials.
I think of the amount of creative energy expended to make a mere advertising and despair. The creative genius of our society is not only being flushed down the crapper, but
. . . → Read More: Dead Wild Roses: Advertising and the Superbowl – Rant
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