Of yarns and spinning
Do you know when you’re being sold something? Fiona Barber looks behind a recent campaign... and doesn’t buy it.
Everyone loves a good story. Fiction, non-fiction, it doesn’t matter. If it’s a good yarn, people will respond to it – which is something companies have long recognised in their quest for sales and profit.
In the commercial world, these stories must be feel-good. Some recent telly examples: Sealord with its dad-and-daughter “be like a fish” vignettes; Fonterra with its farming-folk-as-guardians-of-theplanet-and-humankind ads. Flogging fish and milk has never been so cinematic. How long before we see Meryl Streep brandishing a hoki fillet or Richie McCaw making royal visits to farms, schools and factories talking up milk products and Fonterra? Oh, that’s right, he already has.
It doesn’t take a PhD in psychology to figure out this is PR at its charm-fest best, but at least you know you are being wooed.
Less clear are campaigns that muddy the water. I’ve been thinking about this since reading an illuminating story published on Stuff late last month. Spinning the freshwater debate: When PR companies join the fray trained the spotlight on the Swim Fresh social media campaign, which called on Kiwis to “show love for their rivers and lakes”. And they did, posting pictures of scenic freshwater spots, and Kiwis enjoying them, on the organisation’s Facebook page.
Turns out the “not-for-profit campaign” is the work of public relations company BlacklandPR, which, according to its website pitch to clients, takes “arguments and evidence in your favour deep into the New Zealand public. We change hearts and minds, undermining those who threaten your business.” Its listed clients include Dairy NZ, although Blackland maintains the campaign is its own. Phew. Thank God for PR companies and lobbyists – who knew they did pro bono work for rivers and swimming holes?
Commendably, the Stuff story looked beyond the press releases and the cute campaign, with its snappy song
(We’ll be fine) and the cartoon koura mascot, to identify the people behind the charm offensive.
Other reports did not. They quoted the “Swim Fresh boss” Mark Blackham who, it turns out, is a lobbyist and BlacklandPR director. We live in interesting times.
They’d be even more interesting if journalists could more often delve into who pulls the strings in our society. We might learn a lot more about how influence is peddled in our democracy. We might also discover just how much of our manky laundry is permanently on the spin cycle. And that may not be such a good news story.