For all their talk about supporting Australia and Aussie farmers Coles has shown their true colours by importing British comedienne Dawn French to front their FlyBys advertising campaign.
There are plenty of Australian personalities who could have fronted this campaign. Every time I see a TV or print ad I find myself thinking about the Coles decision against Australia rather than what is being advertised.
I am left wondering whether it is cultural cringe on the part of Coles or ignorance about the need for a whole of business approach to supporting Australia.
We already lose too much of the entertainment dollar spent here in Australia on overseas acts. The money paid to French would do more for our country if it was paid to a local.
Maybe I am being petty but this campaign is impacting my supermarket shopping decisions even if it takes me a bit out of the way.
How is this relevant to newsagents? We are local businesses employing local people and investing in our local communities. We need to remind our local community of this through our words and actions at every opportunity. We need to show that we can act far more responsibly to our country than Coles has done.
I dont blame Coles for shopping offshore. Everything in this country is overpriced.
It is a business decision and Coles have acted in their best interests. They would have done alot of marketing research into who bests suits their campaign. If you had a choice between One Direction to appear at your newsagency or Anthony Callea, who would you choose. I know who would bring in the most traffic and it wouldn’t be Anthony.
I have to agree with Angela on this. Coles would have done their homework.
The whole “shop local” marketing concept is a very difficult sell. In general, the majority of consumers don’t care about locality when it comes to making the final decision.
One can’t condem Coles for using Dawn while simultaneously selling tickets to One Direction. How would it appear to us if other countries stopped importing Australian entertainers simply because they weren’t a citizen.
Business decisions based on nationalism alone are not sound. There are some instances in which buying local has a strategic purpose and sound reasoning behind it. This is not one of those cases.
i like dawn french, but in a coles ad??? does not do it for me, am put off everytime i see it
Yep Coles have acted in their interests and not in the interests of Australia. The comparison of Coles hiring Dawn French to One Direction selling tickets to a concert is a stretch I’d not make.
I say bring back Normie Rowe, as bad as it was it is better than Dawn. My 5 would be Matt Preston, George Colombaris, Maggie Beer, Stephanie Alexander and Margaret Fulton – but would they take the money?
The comedian paired with chef Curtis would have to be female!
All the following are well-known, some possibly better known in Oz than import Dawn French:
Denise Drysdale
Kitty Flanagan
Corinne Grant
Amanda Keller
Sonia Kruger
Judith Lucy
Julia Morris
Gina Riley
Denise Scott
Julia Zemiro
How about Kyle Sanderlands, Eddy Mcguire, Phil Gould,kenny wots his name Jacobson, deni Hinze just some I.C.S.
What about Kath and Kim?
fred, are you trying the customers????
## to scare (damn this slow connection)
I’m just thankful they didn’t use Grant Denyer or Kerrie Anne Kennerley.
I to believe they should have picked an Aussie spokesperson but just like you Mark, Coles are promoting an overseas import to sell their brand. The amount of 1D love you show i would think as a businessman you would understand Coles decision a little more. Using an international star to sell the product… Coles is not the only one in that boat… Even the humble local newsagent does it.
Nathan there is a difference between an Aussie company importing someone from overseas to promote their Aussie business and a UK band promoting themselves. The band is the product. Dawn French is a hired personality to put a shine on an Aussie company.
It’s simple. Coles is run by imports from Sainsburys. Most of them wouldn’t know who an Aussie comedienne is, but some smart advertising agent has played to their “local” knowledge. This whole imported from overseas management thing is the reason why Coles are so insensitive to local issues.
It frustrates the hell out of me having to listen to this non import propoganda! As soon as people understand that the main reason for prices being so high in this country is a lack of importation the better. Yes, support the farmers but let’s not give them and the supermarkets a complete free reign on deciding prices. As soon as an international competitor comes into the market the better
James, how does using Dawn French in local TV advertising drive down prices?????
As for imported product, there is no lack of that either and our primary industries suffer as a result, to be purely price driven is to show no concern for our ability to have a degree of self sufficiency in the long term.
Mark,
Surely you can see the correlation between Dawn and 1D. Every 1D poster displayed by newsagens was using imported entertainment to promote magazines, posters, calendars and tickets in an Australian business.
The end result is the same. A portion of the money spend in both newsagencies and Coles ends up going to imported entertainers.
I just find it strange that we would care where an entertainer was from.
Has it occurred to anyone that Coles and Dawn French are increasingly selling to an immigrant population including huge numbers of Europeans and people from the British Isles who are very familiar with Dawn French. If you ever listen to late night television marketing shows, or indeeed to the ladies who spruik on morning television selling weight loss machines and carpet cleaners, most of them have a British accent.
Why do we think Coles is Aussie anymore? – they think GLOBAL
Jarryd Dawn has been brought in to sell an Aussie Company. 1D is used to sell itself. Completely different.
So an Australian talk show pays an imported entertainer for an appearance and its ok, but a retailer pays them to do an ad and it’s not? The difference between the two is just semantics when we’re talking about the economics of the situation.
In my mind a considerable difference. Not semantics at all.
I am an ex patriot and a great fan of Dawn French. However I am rather saddened by the fact that she has abased herself in this awful advert. Pass the mute please.
I agree, but lets be honest, aussie stars are boring. just name one who hasnt won a logie etc. its like a lottery with 5 contestants
Your adverts with Dawn French turns me right off. I am already with one of the Insurance Co’s but the ad wouldn’t get me to join one now. especially the crude bit at the end. How much longer do you have to spoil our TV shows with this type of Pea Brained advertising? I used to think she was funny but never again, she’s lost a fan.