Oh my god. I thought Chevron’s condescending “We Agree” ad campaign was the peak of companies-talking-down-to-people-and-ignoring-the-actual-criticisms-levelled-against-them. But Ports of Auckland – whose CEO Tony Gibson was protesting only days ago “aren’t arrogant as a company” – have blown that one right, if you’ll pardon the phrase, out of the water.
“The big drill came in big pieces on a big boat.” If you can read that out loud without doing a Suzy Cato impression, I’ll be very impressed.
The point of this kind of PR fluff is to make people feel good about the company – so you’ll forget the fact that they’ve tried to force their workers onto individual contracts and tried to sneak through extensions to the wharf which narrow the harbour and block the view from Queen’s Wharf – which is now an important public space that Ports of Auckland were paid $40 million for.
As an Aucklander-turned-Wellingtonian, I cannot emphasise enough what a difference having an open, public, walkable waterfront makes to the quality of life in a CBD.
And as a communications professional, I’m gobsmacked that POAL thinks talking down to Aucklanders like they’re toddlers is a good way to rebuild their reputation.
Stephanie Rodgers 