Government advertising is always a contentious issue and it is about to become more so this weekend in Victoria with the launch of a campaign to reduce knife crime in the state.
Or perhaps that should be the perception that there has been a vast increase in knife crime thanks to political posturing and media hysteria. The actual statistics are unclear.
Let's face it, what are any Federal or State Government campaigns really about? They're about giving the public the impression that you are doing something about a particular issue, in this instance knife crime.
And hence the triple whammy of a massive police presence, often in the areas where there is little or no knife crime whatsoever, and the fanfare of a combined PR and advertising campaign.
We've seen it before for drugs, gambling and most notoriously the Transport and Accident Commission (TAC). Yet the needles in my street show more correlation with supply of Heroin than ads, the casino appears to be busier than ever and every Saturday night a handful of kids still manage to wrap their high powered Falcons and Holdens (and inevitably it is always these two marques) around a tree.
Now, I know the TAC has won Advertising Effectiveness Awards but as we all know there are "lies, damn lies and statistics" especially when manipulated by an ad agency.
The key thing in all this is to remember that Victoria is heading towards a state election and if the spin doctor can make the public think that something is being done on law and order, health and schools you've got the winning trifecta.
Of course, it helps that the Victorian Government spends big too on advertising, very big. Back in the 2002/2003 financial year the government spent a seemingly whopping $125 million. But that figure increased by a startling 56% to $195 million in 2008 to 2009.
For 2010 - as I said earlier an election year - advertising spending is set to hit or perhaps even bust $214 million. That's nearly a 10% increase at a time when the overall inflation rate is about 2.1% and the media and advertising agencies have been hungry for work thanks to the Global Financial crisis.
That's costing about $40 per head for every man, woman and child in Victoria.
It's a lot of money for campaigns that are dubious at best. I know you all work in advertising but do you really think this stuff works?