OnPoint by Keith Ng

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OnPoint: British American Tobacco, Cadbury, Coca Cola, Bluebird, Herbert Morton, Tip Top, Mars, Nestle, Streets and Imperial Tobacco

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  • Russell Brown,

    Nice.

    Morning Report has your story, by Karen Gregory-Hunt, via ASH.

    You're not acknowledged. Of course.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Kit McLean,

    All I can think of is the Chewbacca Defence (terrible quality video alert...). I rest my case.

    You're not acknowledged. Of course.

    I noted that myself. I gave Keith a mental hat tip on their behalf - small audience I know, but at least SOME credit was given.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 24 posts Report Reply

  • Whoops,

    Great post, great reporting, and awesome google bomb I'm sure.

    here • Since Apr 2007 • 105 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    and awesome google bomb I'm sure.

    My Google juice is Keith's Google juice.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Jono,

    We know how the dots were joined, Keith. Nice work and a fine line walked without tipping over into the kind of self-rightesousness that comes all too easy with the subject matter.

    Whangarei • Since Oct 2008 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Raymond A Francis,

    I always feel conspiracy stories just a little weird, there just seems to be too much joining up of dots
    Just check out the ravings of some right wing bloggers where just the fact someone checked out a book on socialism or their sister-in –law went on a march for freedoms enough to brand them a commie
    The reminding of Keith Locke on his utterances on Cambodia is a classic demonstration of dot joining at its worst

    So while I think this is in the public interest and well worth pointing out (you got a cheer from me this morning) the faint sound of black mail is distasteful

    45' South • Since Nov 2006 • 578 posts Report Reply

  • andin,

    Sooo is Herbert Morgan (CA) like the dirty old man of this crowd? The kind who is always trying to get people to reach into his coat pocket to get lolly.

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • Mikaere Curtis,

    Save yourselves some time. Just change your logo to a swastika.

    roflnui

    Great post, Keith.

    On the indigenous whaling point, the article states that:

    In regard to Te Ohu Kaimoana, the trust was not "interested in whaling", but would be interested in taking meat from stranded beached whales unable to be saved.

    This is not what people typically think of when they envisage whaling. We already have DOC approved whalebone harvesting, and I can't see what's wrong with the local hapu having the right to harvest unsaveable beached whales. So, in this case, TOK may have retained Inwoods services not because they are interested emulating the Japanese approach, but that they wanted someone with industry knowledge to assist in their communications programme.

    Tamaki Makaurau • Since Nov 2006 • 528 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    My local dairys just started selling deep fried blubber. Delicious and nutricious, as they say.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    Oh - you're not supposed to EAT them, they're for smoking ...

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    Jeez Keith you have to remember you're blogger. Stick to the unsubstantiated opinion.

    All those facts and relevant links make you start to look like a journalist.

    Keep this up and people will start to take you seriously.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    My local dairys just started selling deep fried blubber. Delicious and nutricious, as they say.

    Isn't that the same dairy that also sells elephant ivory flick-knives and kereru omelette?

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Jose Barbosa,

    Sterling work Mr Ng.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 64 posts Report Reply

  • Gabor Toth,

    This is not what people typically think of when they envisage whaling. We already have DOC approved whalebone harvesting, and I can't see what's wrong with the local hapu having the right to harvest unsaveable beached whales. So, in this case, TOK may have retained Inwoods services not because they are interested emulating the Japanese approach, but that they wanted someone with industry knowledge to assist in their communications programme.

    My concern is more in the related area of seal culling and the possibility that this issue will raise its head again. Sir Tipene O'Regan representing Ngai Tahu's fishing interests made a passionate call in 1996 to allow for the culling of fur seals because of the impact they have on commercial fish stocks. His idea was that in those areas where they were "endangered" they should be left alone, but where they were plentiful (Cook Strait? Marlborough Sounds? Kaikoura Coast?) they could be "sustainably harvested".

    With Ngai Tahu's (and others) considerable financial interests commercial fishing and fur seal numbers continuing to climb at a steady rate, it is possible that certain PR “services” may be required in future to improve the look of an application to remove the absolute protection that fur seals have under the Marine Mammals Protection Act. The current number of fur seals is believed to be around 100,000 but 200 years ago it was more like 1.5 - 2 million. What kind of response could be expected from the fishing industry if seal numbers were to reach 200k? 500k?

    Wellington • Since Dec 2006 • 137 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    And since Big Tobacco didn't carry enough stench for you, you get the guy who does whaling *and* Big Tobacco. Save yourselves some time. Just change your logo to a swastika.

    "The Baby-Eating Bishop of Bath and Wells" surely? Can't have you godwinning yourself before the discussion gets started.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    Please can NACT draft Inwood as a candidate next time. Also Whalespunk. And the bloke from the apprentice who doesn't pay his bills.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Telfar Barnard,

    Save yourselves some time. Just change your logo to a swastika.

    I found this somewhat ironic, given that public health advocates for many years had difficulty getting the anti-smoking message across in Germany because the Nazis had been seriously anti-smoking, so being anti-smoking carried the taint of Nazism. (see for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tobacco_movement_in_Nazi_Germany)

    'Course, you can bet once the war was over, big tobacco milked that for all it was worth...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 585 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    The notion that the state has an interest in the health of your body so that you can serve the nation better is at heart a fascist one and I do feel a teeny bit uncomfortable with the way some public health advocates carry on sometimes, all hygiene and imperialism and blithe assumption that keeping it in tiptop shape is the only point of having a body at all. But just a teeny bit, mind.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Keith Ng,

    I found this somewhat ironic, given that public health advocates for many years had difficulty getting the anti-smoking message across in Germany because the Nazis had been seriously anti-smoking, so being anti-smoking carried the taint of Nazism. (see for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tobacco_movement_in_Nazi_Germany)

    'Course, you can bet once the war was over, big tobacco milked that for all it was worth...

    Ha! That's fascinating!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 543 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    So you're saying "health nazi" is a well-worn phrase..

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Thinking about it, PR pretty much starts with Edwards Bernays making cigarettes acceptable, and PR and tobacco have been in love ever since. And Goebbels actually used Bernays' book Crystallizing Public Opinion in creating his propaganda strategy. 'Cause the state needs PR too.

    There, do I win the tie-it-all-together prize?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    I was once approached by an anti-smoking advocate (from ASH) who was doing the rounds of tables at a cafe at Vic Uni. He was so annoying that you could track his progress through the room by watching people deliberately light cigarettes to get him to go away. I saw several people I know to be nonsmokers borrow ciggies and dramatically puff on them. Ironically, I was with a friend who had given up smoking the week prior - she relapsed almost immediately, just to get back at this person. One of the worst advocates for a position I've ever seen - an exemplar of "I passionately agree with you but you're such a dick I'm thinking about changing my mind" syndrome.

    Ahem. As you were.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Graham,

    Apologies for my cousin. Somewhat wedded to the notion that people have a right to do stupid things that will kill them.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 218 posts Report Reply

  • Mikaere Curtis,

    What kind of response could be expected from the fishing industry if seal numbers were to reach 200k? 500k?

    Is there anything more vile than an unsustainable fishing industry blaming their low catch results on other fish-eathing species ? As if these other species had a choice in the matter.

    At least it would be reasonably straight forward to organise public sentiment against this kind of needless slaughter.

    The notion that the state has an interest in the health of your body so that you can serve the nation better is at heart a fascist one and I do feel a teeny bit uncomfortable with the way some public health advocates carry on sometimes, all hygiene and imperialism and blithe assumption that keeping it in tiptop shape is the only point of having a body at all. But just a teeny bit, mind.

    Another way of looking at this is that it is actually about the state doing something about the right of unaccountable private tyrannies to subject the populace to relentless campaigns to induce them to take up highly addictive, and potentially fatal, drug.

    My position on this is that it should be legal to be a smoker, but totally criminal to supply tobacco on a commercial scale. If you want to grow your own, fine. Share it with your mates, fine. But we would no longer have such a harmful and addictive substance being available at every supermarket, service station, or dairy.

    There are two dimensions when it comes to dangerous activities: freedom and accessibility.

    I am loathe to take away freedom, especially when it results in criminalising the otherwise-law-abiding (e.g. dope smokers).

    Accessibility is a whole different issue. You don't have a right to have immediate, convenient access to risk and danger.

    Image what would happen if we provided free and convenient bus rides to alpine tramping tracks for all and sundry, regardless of their preparedness or the weather. Introducing almost unfettered access to something that is risky will result in more negative outcomes (e.g. more people lost in the alps, more dying of exposure). Same goes for smokling. We don't need to outlaw it, just outlaw its accessibility.

    Tamaki Makaurau • Since Nov 2006 • 528 posts Report Reply

  • SteveH,

    Apologies for my cousin. Somewhat wedded to the notion that people have a right to do stupid things that will kill them.

    Nothing wrong with that. What I'm not so keen on is anyone actively encouraging people to do stupid things that will kill them.

    Since Sep 2009 • 444 posts Report Reply

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