A bad marketing idea all round

OUR SAY

The adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity will surely be put to the test over Burger Urge’s “taste addiction” promotion campaign. A photo and some pars in the mainstream media, a mention on ABC’s popular Gruen Planet – indeed, the coverage in this edition of The Independent – would on the surface seem like rolled-gold exposure that would take a lot of money to buy.

But the publicity has been far from favourable and time will tell whether the company’s two outlets get a sales boost from a promotion campaign involving what looks like a used drugs syringe and words clearly associated with drug addiction. The campaign against the promotion by the 139 Club was understandable and laudable – The Independent is not so sure about the outcome and the apparent backdown by the owners of Burger Urge.
The 139 Club is claiming a victory of sorts in that the 20,000 pens will not now be letterboxed. And for sure, far fewer impressionable children or recovering drug addicts will see the pens if they are now only handed out at the outlets to customers who ask for them.
But these pens do end up in homes and if just one child’s health is endangered – or one former addict lured back to their deadly habit – by this thoughtless piece of gimmickry then surely that will be one to many. These pens probably cost a lot of money to produce and maybe the Burger Urge people simply could not let go of the marketing concept behind them.
But The Independent believes there was only one suitable course of action if Burger Urge really wanted to show its bona fides as a community-minded company. Once it became aware of the very sensible arguments put forward by the 139 Club and others as to the dangers posed by this poorly considered promotion, it should have been axed entirely.

Enough talk already!

After many years of inaction, some “steely” discussions are not going to force recalcitrant property owners to clean up some of the Valley’s more notable eyesores. That’s the view this paper put to Lord Mayor Graham Quirk in a preamble to some follow-up questions to a media release from him on the issue.

It’s time to stop talking and take action. Cr Quirk appears to fit into the category of pollies who believe that no council legislation currently exists that can force owners to clean up their buildings – both outside and inside. Others argue that existing legislation is poorly worded, with a misplaced comma or some such nonsense.
One pollie and one potential pollie – Grace Grace and Paul Crowther – believe there are laws on the books at present that can be used as a bloody big stick on these owners who clearly have little time for the Valley. We agree with them. Make these owners pay up.
As this paper has stated before, perhaps when faced with such outlays, some of these owners who are simply landbanking while awaiting the price they demand might just be made to settle for something less – and in which case we will all be well rid of them and the Valley can move forward.