RURAL NEWS // JANUARY 17, 2017
18 OPINION EDITORIAL
EDNA
Let it go! LET’S HOPE that industry-good body DairyNZ will revisit its decision to appeal the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruling that Greenpeace’s recent “dirty dairying” adverts did not breach advertising principles. According to DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle, both Greenpeace and DairyNZ received ‘embargoed’ copies of the ruling back in December and had until January 23 to appeal the ruling. “We received the ruling, we are not happy with the outcome, so we’ll appeal that,” he told media. Mackle is absolutely correct in saying the ad was misleading in the way it painted the dairy industry. But by appealing this ruling, DairyNZ is only giving Greenpeace and the myriad of vocal, antidairy critics even more oxygen and publicity with which to dump on it all over again. These guys don’t play by the rules, as shown by the way Greenpeace broke the ASA embargo to crow to the media about its ‘win’. Already, self-important and self-appointed commentators – apparently on behalf of the entire population of NZ – have soaked up many pages of mainstream media column inches berating the dairy industry and ‘greedy, water polluting farmers’ for having the temerity to challenge claims made by such a paragon of virtue as the multi-national, money making, non-taxpaying lobby group Greenpeace. While DairyNZ may feel justifiably aggrieved by the false and misleading claims made by Greenpeace in its ‘post truth’ advertising campaign, appealing the ASA ruling only risks further legitimising Greenpeace and critics’ biased view of the dairy industry in the eyes of the public. It is abundantly clear that DairyNZ and the wider dairy sector has already lost the public support – just take a look at the online comments on any story about the dairy industry that runs in the mainstream media. Lobbyists like Greenpeace, Fish&Game and Forest and Bird are all run by anti-dairy zealots and will never change their view on the sector. Unfortunately, mainstream media allow ill-informed and – in one case in particular – unhinged columnists unfettered licence to spew their anti-dairying rhetoric week after week. Who cares about the ASA and its ruling? It is meaningless. What the dairy sector, as a whole, needs to do is to directly front foot the industry’s negative issues, and regularly remind NZ about the many benefits dairying brings to our country, economy and communities. Dairy has a good story to sell, so get out and sell it and forget about activist groups and their false advertising campaigns.
RURALNEWS TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS
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“...hang a right at the old dairy factory, boot it over the saddle, shoot on down through the raupo, then, as long as you don’t miss the fork at the old woolshed, where you’ll see a bloke in a swanni dagging some wethers, you won’t end up in the wop wops!”
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THE HOUND Toxic ravings
Lost cause?
Good work
Says it all!
The Hound continues to be amazed at the toxic sludge NZ Herald ‘columnist’ and self-appointed, font of knowledge on all things to everybody Rachel ‘Toxic’ Stewart spews out each week. It’s clear to this old mutt – and anyone reading ‘The 2016 Columnist of the Year’s’ weekly diatribes – that Stewart suffers from a persecution complex and as a child must have been either shat on by a dairy cow or made to drink stale milk at school. It’s a pity Stewart – who clearly has a distorted grasp on reality – does not take her own advice, which she likes to dispense with vigour on (un)social media and just STFU. As a mate of yours truly wisely says: ‘Everyone has the right to be stupid, however, Stewart is obviously abusing the privilege!’
Speaking of clickbait, your old mate wonders if Fonterra spending all that money on ads promoting dairy farming and the company’s products in the local NZ market is actually worth it. One only has to click on the comments section of newspaper articles or social media posts about the ads to get an understanding of how the likes of Rachel ‘Toxic’ Stewart and her anti-dairying ilk have impacted on public opinion. Invariably most of the commentators either rage about dairy farmers destroying water quality or how the rich pricks are screwing local consumers and making them pay far too much for milk and dairy products. Perhaps Fonterra would be better to spend this money on paying farmers more for their milk and advertising its products where they are appreciated in China and other international markets.
Your canine crusader reckons one of the most ‘interesting’ and strange media stories over the holiday period was the one about a ‘cat smuggler’ being sent home. Apparently, a Canadian air passenger tried to sneak her cat into Auckland, but was refused entry into New Zealand. The woman only declared dirty boots to biosecurity officials at Auckland Airport when she arrived from Vancouver, failing to reveal she had hidden her cat in a small handbag she had carried aboard the flight. However, she eventually confessed to carrying the cat when MPI staff attempted to x-ray her baggage after being ‘very reluctant to have the hand bag x-rayed’. As a result of the find, immigration officials refused the woman entry permission to the country and she was forced to return to Canada with her cat on the next available flight.
A mate of the Hounds sent him this photo of this sign doing the rounds on Facebook. He reckons it sums up things nicely for all those NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard) who purchase lifestyle blocks and then complain about the smells and noises etc emanating from neighbouring farms…
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