Rudd quietly ditches climate ads

Remember "Think climate, think change" - probably one of the most vacuous and inane slogans of our time? You may recall that Krudd & Co were planning to spend $14 million of your tax dollars spruiking the whole climate change/ETS nonsense (see here). Now it appears they have given up on it, having spent "only" $8.8 million.

THE Federal Government has quietly scrapped a multimillion-dollar advertising blitz to promote its controversial emissions trading scheme amid widespread criticism that its plan is too complex and will do little to tackle global warming.

Documents given to The Sunday Age reveal a taxpayer-funded climate change call centre was also canned, after receiving an average of just 16 calls a day at a cost of $52 each. [It really is the greatest challenge to humanity since the dawn of time! - Ed]

The Government's campaign — "Think Climate, Think Change" — has already cost millions of dollars, with ads run on television and in magazines.

But documents from the Department of Climate Change show that a second phase of the campaign, which was to explain how emissions trading would work, has been dumped and "no further advertising is being planned".

Still spinning furiously, as only Krudd and Co know how, the government defends its decision:

The department said ads were cancelled because they had "already achieved substantial market coverage and penetration, and the campaign objectives of raising awareness of the impacts of climate change … were unlikely to be enhanced by further advertising at that time".

Read it here.