Dear Editor
Watching ‘The Chaser’ on TV, I was exposed yet again to the Pacific Island bowel screening advert. The one with the big group singing and cheering, and the kid finishing with “You can Poo it” to his grandfather.
It was clearly designed by someone with a very low opinion of P.I. elders. They might not be university-educated, and perhaps some of the old grandparents don’t have perfect English, but they are not children or stupid. As an old white guy, I would be insulted by an advert like that and wouldn’t expect the old P.I. guys to feel any different.
If this was cleared by a Maori and Pacific Island Studies expert, it shows just how out of touch they are with the older generation of all races. Old does not mean stupid, and being talked down to like this is disrespectful.
It is yet another example of the arrogance of the ‘Elite’. Those with high positions in academia, bureaucracy or politics seem to assume that those with lesser education need to be addressed in childlike terms and, in the case of the Polynesian target, as happy-clappy and a bit simple.
The P.I. people I’ve met are not like this.
Or have I got this wrong? Socialists are always performative, the only thing that matters is to be seen to have the right intention, and results don’t matter. Publically targetting the P.I. community in expensive adverts means, “We have spent $x million on P.I. Health”….job done, what’s not to like? Whether it works is not only secondary, it is of no concern at all. Just like the 100,000 houses and the ‘Child Poverty’.
Thank goodness we have adults back in charge again. They may not be doing all that we want, but at least they do want a result rather than just an announcement.
Angus Aardvark
