View Full Version : Little Johnny a walking billboard
I thought someone else might have brought this up, but seeing as they haven't I will.
On the news last night Howard was wearing a tracksuit emblazoned with vodaphone, I would have thought that it is highly inappropiate for a PM to be advertising any company, especially one that is in competition with the one he wants to sell off.
I have been discussing it with other people, including my boss who is staunch liberal & they all thought the same, we are amazed that it hasn't been mentioned in the media, or maybe we have missed it.
Your thoughts, without flaming please.
I wasn't that concerned at first, but considering Vodafone have announced they are cutting 1000 workers I think its a bit poor.
How would you feel after just being retrenched you notice your PM advertising the company that just cut you.
So why isn't anyone in the media bringing it up, isn't anyone allowed to question his actions, is everything he does now viewed as OK. :confused:
Blues_Brat
14 Nov 2001, 17:44
Highly inappropriate!
I have always felt (being slightly cynical) that governments who are determined to sell off/dismantle public assets must have a vested interest.
Shinboners
14 Nov 2001, 18:23
I haven't seen the footage myself, but is it any worse than Steve Bracks on radio talking up Ansett and talking down Virgin Airlines? Last time I checked, both were private enterprises in competition with each other and I wonder how the workers at Virgin felt when they heard the Premier saying that their company could go broke sometime soon.
Shinners
Naturally living here I haven't heard the Braacks interview, if what you say is true, no I don't think it was right, but I also bet there was a lot of discussion about it, now to my question, do you think that the PM should be advertising a company who IS going to sack a lot of Australians soon & is in opposition to a company that he wants to sell off.
Please no more side stepping my question with a question of your own, it is a pretty straight forward question, surely you are able to disagree with some things that he does or says.
Shinboners
14 Nov 2001, 19:05
Mantis
Like I said in my post, I haven't seen the footage, so I can't comment.
As for me disagreeing with Howard, I have made my opinions known about his use of the refugee crisis for electoral purposes and stated that I would not vote for him on that basis (and I did not vote Liberal in the House of Representatives in the election). In the past, I have also criticised him for giving the tax cuts to the wrong people when changing the marginal taxation rates after the GST was brought in. However, I have stuck up for Howard when some of the criticism has gone over the top. In the same way you seem to believe that I don't disagree with anything he's done, I could also say that you don't seem to agree with anything he's done.
I think that if Howard found a cure for cancer tonight, by tomorrow, all the anti-Howard people hate him so much that they would start complaining that he's just put all the specialist cancer doctors out of business.
Chris_23
14 Nov 2001, 19:14
It's no big deal, it's just the Australian Wallabies tracksuit that they gave to him. I dislike Johnny but he's done nothing wrong on this occasion.
Originally posted by Chris_23
It's no big deal, it's just the Australian Wallabies tracksuit that they gave to him. I dislike Johnny but he's done nothing wrong on this occasion.
I havent actually seen it but if its just a normal wallabies tracksuit with their sponsers on it then i dont see a problem. I dont think that he's intentionally trying to make a statement.
Shinboners
14 Nov 2001, 19:31
A Vodafone logo on a WALLABIES shirt? Methinks that Howard was more concerned with showing his support of the Australian Rugby Union team than in promoting Vodafone and that Mantis has over-reacted just a touch......
By the way, there's been hardly any discussion on Brack's comments......Howard's new term, Crean's new team, the New York plane crash, and the war in Afghanistan have ensured that Brack's has gotten away with his little gaffe.......
So he would prefer to wear it & show support for a sports sponsor, than show compassion towards the soon to be unemployed, but then we know he lacks compassion, so I guess his choice should hardly surprise :rolleyes:
Shinboners
14 Nov 2001, 19:49
Okay, it's about compassion then.
I'll be waiting for your post here when you criticise the Essendon Football Club for having the ORANGE logo on their shirts and at their press conference because they won't be showing any compassion towards the Essendon supporting employees of Orange when they get sacked. :rolleyes:
Shinners
If you can't see the difference between a sporting club promoting their sponsor as opposed to the PM supporting a company on TV who have said they are about to sack people & are in opposition to the company he wants to sell, you say it is because i hate Howard, fair enough, but my boss doesn't, we argue non stop about politics, but even he thought that Howard did the wrong thing. A lot more people would have seen Howard wearing that ad last night, than they would watching a sporting team.
Blues_Brat
14 Nov 2001, 23:49
Originally posted by mantis
So he would prefer to wear it & show support for a sports sponsor, than show compassion towards the soon to be unemployed, but then we know he lacks compassion, so I guess his choice should hardly surprise :rolleyes:
I can never remember who said it. Homer Simpson or John Howard..
"Just cos I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand"
Originally posted by Shinboners
Okay, it's about compassion then.
I'll be waiting for your post here when you criticise the Essendon Football Club for having the ORANGE logo on their shirts and at their press conference because they won't be showing any compassion towards the Essendon supporting employees of Orange when they get sacked. :rolleyes:
You are talking about a hypothetical, something that might happen in the future, I am talking about here & now, not the past, not the future, but someting that is happening now, why do you always throw in red herrings to avoid answering the question at hand.
The point is vodaphone ARE sacking people NOW & are in competition with the soon to be sold Telstra.
No more red herrings about what may happen in the future, or what happened 20 years ago, the fact is once again howard showed his complete lack of compassion.
Shinboners
15 Nov 2001, 09:03
Yes, I am talking about a hypothetical simply because I've stated my opinion on the issue at hand. John Howard, at worst, committed a faux pas by wearing a Wallabies jumper with a Vodafone logo on it.....big deal. As I've said, he's wearing it to support the Wallabies, not Vodafone.
As for my alleged red herring on Essendon....well...the Dons have nailed their colours onto politics before. Take note on how Sheedy and your club has promoted Aboriginal affairs AND how the Dons wore green armbands to promote environmental awarness at the game vs North Melbourne. So, if the Dons can take a political stance on those two issues, why not take a stand on Orange/Hutchinson Telecoms sacking people (as surely they will because if you think that Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone are struggling here, anyone who reads the financial press knows that Orange will be next). So, I look forward to you posting on this board criticising Essendon for promoting Orange/Hutchinson once this company starts announcing their staff cut backs.
gordon carlyon
15 Nov 2001, 09:24
Shinboners
Dont bother explaining something to someone who wants to critcise and can only find something trivial to blow out of proportion.
In her view, Howard should have a seamstress following him so if he wants to put on a track suit top of a sporting team (all of whom carry the labels of their sponsors) that they should cut off the logo (if they can) that he should then consult his advisors to see if anyone has been sacked from that company in the last millennium and then put it on?
Come on grow up you stupid lefties.
If ever there was an excercise in nit-picking this was it. Clearly he was wearing it as a Wallaby support thing. We all tend to wear clothes with logos on in casual wear. As said earlier, a person wearing an Essendon top is surely not seen to be anti Telstra? It's an Essendon top for God's sake :rolleyes:
Of course to appease the nit-pickers and give a similarily plausible :rolleyes: reason he was wearing the tracksuit.
IT WAS AS A SHOW OF SUPPORT FOR THE 1000 PEOPLE TO BE RETRENCHED
Briedis
15 Nov 2001, 10:51
Yep, just showing support for the Wallabies, which he had apparently stayed up that night to watch. The fact that Vodafone sponser them is of no consequence.
It's good to see a PM support our sporting teams, and not just when they win the world cup etc. Apparently he rang the Wallabies coach and offered his condolences.
I am sure vodaphones sacked employees are over the moon that howard is showing his support for the wallabies in preference to them, I am just glad my Liberal boss can see how inappropiate wearing that tracksuit on TV was.
Can I ask why it has taken so long for you to be offended by this mantis?
He wears it reguarly to show his support for the Wallabies. Is Costello wearing his Bomber's gear on GF day any different?
Or do you only get offended when it comes on the back of your preferred politicians losing an election?
Seems like much ado about nothing to me.
Satay Mat
15 Nov 2001, 12:09
I would have thought that John Howard would be the last person Vodafone would want endorsing their product anyway !!!
I mean he is not exactly a Gen Y is he ?
Did they have mobile phones in the fifties ????
Satay Mat
I reckon you've shot yourself in the foot Mantis. You tried to slag off John Howard (the 'little' word was discriminatory) and the real effect on people is to show he is a guy who cares for an Australian national sporting team enough to wear their tracksuit.
Maybe the Libs should have hired you to help their election campaign :D
LibsWin
15 Nov 2001, 13:33
How trivial! :eek:
Maybe she'll complain about a vegetarian wearing an Essendon jumper with the 'Don's Smallgoods' logo on it!:rolleyes:
However, it is nice to know that there is a member of Australia's fashion industry on these boards. ;)
Shinboners
15 Nov 2001, 14:01
Mantis
It seems that my "hypothetical" about Orange/Hutchinson sacking workers is no longer a hypothetical. From today's Hun:
"Over the past two months, Hutchinson Telecommunications has also axed 240 people, with another 100 jobs under threat".
Now, as I've posted earlier, Essendon FC have well and truly aligned themselves to taking positions on political issues. If John Howard lacked compassion by wearing a Wallabies shirt with a sponsors logo, therefore, Essendon and their representatives were just as lacking in compassion by having ORANGE logos at their press conferences (as per the announcement of Michael Long's retirement). When will Essendon set a further example for the community, as they have with Aboriginal affairs and the environment, by making a statement distancing themselves from their sponsor's sacking of workers, some of whom may be fans of the Essendon Football Club (after all, how gutted would you be supporting a club with a sponsor who has just sacked you?). I would argue that Essendon/Orange is WORSE than Howard/Vodafone because Essendon derives INCOME from Orange.
And Mantis, will you be consistent and criticise Essendon and their deal with Orange on the same basis that you have criticised John Howard and Vodafone?
London Dave
15 Nov 2001, 18:20
When I first read this, I thought WHOAH, but as I hadn't seen the pictures, couldnt really comment. If the logo was a VODAPHONE track suit or whatever, fair enough, but if its a Wallabies top, I dont think its insensitive.
The only way to solve the problem would be we all wear little green siits, like China many years ago. That'd be a good thing!!!
OK I have calmed down after all the side stepping & red herrings that were thrown in by Howard supporters, so this is my reply.
Sporting clubs are PAID by sponsors to advertise their products, if they don't then the sponsor withdraws their support. I mightn't like all the Bombers sponsors, "Orange Phone co is one I don't like", but my team needs it, that has nothing to do with me saying the PM should not be promoting a company in opposition to one he is trying to destroy.
Hopefully the PM isn't paid to advertise Vodaphone.
There lies the difference, a politician outwardly advertising a company which he supposedly has got no interest in, as opposed to a sporting club who needs that sponsor to survive.
I know you are all going to bring up the rugby link again, but sorry, when he is trying to bring about the demise of one telecommunications company, while promoting one of it's opposition is a disgrace.
Please don't come back with "he didn't realise that by wearing it he was advertising vodaphone, just supporting the wallabies", because that is rubbish, he is the PM & he should be aware of what he wears & says.
Do you see the Leaders of other countries wearing merchandise advertising companies while being interviewed? I haven't.
Funnily enough I don't go out of my way to look for Logo's on other world leaders tracksuits but I'm sure they would be there.
The point is that it was the official tracksuit that did the advertising. The wallabies effected it not Howard, he had no choice other than not wear the Wallabies tracksuit, that of a natonal team.
Howard was promoting / supporting the Wallabies in the same way that if you were wearing a Dons tracksuit you would be supporting Essendon and wouldn't even gve the Orange Logo a second thought.
All Eagles tops say SGIO but many of us insure with other organisations and don't believe that the fact we wear them is a knock at any other insurer. In fact I must say that I mentally rub out shirt adverising and I think many others do too. I watch UK soccer a lot where huge Logo's are on shirts but I have to think hard of who they are as I block the logos out.
Perhaps if Telstra had sponsored the Wallabies you would have been happy. But then again, favouring one company over another....tut tut. And as for them evil borsturds (Tony Greig accent :D) naming a footy ground 'Optus oval'!!!!!!!! Thet MUST be Telstra haters :rolleyes:
And do we forget the billions of dollars invested and jobs created by Vodaphone, Hutchinson, Optus, OneTel etc, Are they all the enemy of the Mantis left wing faction?
Oh...and despite Essendon needing the money, in your opinion, perhaps Howard believes Rugby needs the support!
gordon carlyon
21 Nov 2001, 10:19
This thread should be renamed the Sore Loser Thread!:D
Or for those still at school, perhaps we should call it the sookie sookie la la thread.
Die Labor Die!!!!!!!!!!!:D
See You later Fatboy Kim...We dont need to praise you at all...like OTHERS do!
Shinboners
21 Nov 2001, 11:49
Originally posted by mantis
Do you see the Leaders of other countries wearing merchandise advertising companies while being interviewed? I haven't.
Yep. Tony Blair wearing a Newcastle United shirt complete with sponsors logo during his first election campaign.
Shinboners
21 Nov 2001, 12:08
Originally posted by mantis
OK I have calmed down after all the side stepping & red herrings that were thrown in by Howard supporters, so this is my reply.
Sporting clubs are PAID by sponsors to advertise their products, if they don't then the sponsor withdraws their support. I mightn't like all the Bombers sponsors, "Orange Phone co is one I don't like", but my team needs it, that has nothing to do with me saying the PM should not be promoting a company in opposition to one he is trying to destroy.
Hopefully the PM isn't paid to advertise Vodaphone.
Speaking of red herrings, speculating on whether the PM is paid to advertise Vodafone is the biggest red herring on this thread.
Anyway, yes, sporting clubs do need sponsors, but you have IGNORED my point about Essendon. Essendon HAVE ALIGNED THEMSELVES WITH POLITICAL ISSUES. Either they are picking and choosing their issues, therefore they are not taking a stand on principle, rather they are cynically doing it as a public relations exercise. OR they take a stand on ALL ISSUES, which they are clearly not....and since they're not taking a stand on Orange and sacking their workers, they are putting money above principle and are lacking compassion.
So Mantis, a simple question. Why does Essendon take a principled stand on Aborignial Affairs and the environment, and yet they don't take one on Orange/Hutchinson and the sacking of their workers (many of whom, I'm sure are Essendon fans)?
It is NOT an issue for other AFL clubs because these clubs have not so blatantly aligned themselves with political issues as Essendon have done. And it is not a case of just Essendon. Politics and sporting clubs have always intermingled whether it's the sectarianism of Rangers and Celtic in Scotland, the pro-Franco Real Madrid, the Basque nationalism of FC Barcelona, the left leaning AS Roma vs the right wing Lazio, or the Ukranian politics that occur within the boardroom of Dynamo Kiev.
Mantis, you seem to speak so highly of principles, ethics, and compassion, and yet you have this blind spot when it is applied to those things you hold dear.....like the Essendon Football Club.