There has been a recent re-emergence of ads depicting a so
called 'Freeman' family (see, who said there were no 'Free men' in Australia) who
apparently are subscribers to a service
called Freeview.
Business must not be that good (for Freeview) if they need
to let people know about their product, otherwise it would be selling like hotcakes
or maybe they should just close down and actually start a hotcakes business instead.
So what are they actually showing you?
Well, that you can watch the same junk over and over again
on whatever portable internet connected device you have, totally oblivious to
your surroundings where over a period of time you could develop tunnel vision from watching their crap;
1). On the bus
2). At School
3). In the car
4). At Dan's house
So, the burgeoning questions could be; Who's Dan? Is she a cheater? A possible candidate for Jerry Springer trash tv?
It may seem they are promoting your child to be glued to their device
where if you're 'addicted to your device / 'free tv' and you are getting of
a bus / tram / other public transport, and NOT aware of your surroundings you may get
killed.
Or another opinion could be that they are teaching the children
of the cannon fodder to be nice little subservient corporate slaves, BRILLIANT
idea Freeview peoples.
Here's what others wrote about this 'Freeview' farce, just
in case you missed it;
An article from 10 Mar 2009 from gizmodo.com.au of the
headline:
Did Freeview
Pull Down That Parody Ad? (UPDATED: Yes, They Did)
What started out as a funny, accurate and refreshing take on the
farce that is Freeview in Australia has grown into
something much uglier.
UPDATED.Last week, after we showed you
the parody ad by comedian Dan Ilic and Triple J
presenter Marc Fennell, advertising publication
Adnews reported that Freeview were considering
legal action against the duo. That was quickly updated, but not before a heap
of publications like
Crikey,
The Australian, and
TechWiredAU picked up on it. Of course, when they
were questioned about threatening legal action against the video's makers,
Freeview responded with a clear and concise, "No".
So, you'd think that would be the end of it. But no. Hours after Freeview
denied threatening legal action, YouTube pulled the video for allegedly
violating terms of use. Asher Moses over at the
SMH is convinced that the only way that could have
happened is if Freeview requested YouTube to pull the clip down, while Freeview
has explicitly denied any such action to Margaret Simons over at
Crikey.
The end result of all of this, of course, is that a funny video that would
have only lasted a few days in the eyes of the Internet has now received
mainstream coverage for five days or so, amplifying the message that Freeview
is a joke.
So who's telling the truth? Ultimately, it doesn't matter, because as any
online evangelist will tell you, once something goes online, you can never take
it back. The original parody, although pulled from YouTube, has shown up on
several other sites, expanding its audience even further. The real question is
whether Freeview is actually going to learn from the experience - my heart
hopes it does, but my gut knows it won't...
UPDATE:Turns out those bastards at Freeview did have the
clip pulled down. In an email to
Margaret Simons at Crikey, Google spokeman Rob
Shilkin said:
I wanted to confirm that we received a DMCA notice for lawyers acting on
behalf of Freeview Australia Limited to remove the video in question.
So, essentially the Freeview lawyers (and the people who pay them) are lying
douchebags. Kind of makes me glad I have Foxtel, really.
An article from 9 Mar 2009 from smh.com.au of the headline:
YouTube yanks Freeview parody
clip
A screen grab from the Freeview ad.
Responding to a copyright violation claim, YouTube has removed a parody
video which mocked the free-to-air television networks' Freeview marketing
campaign.
Freeview is the free-to-air TV industry's marketing group for its 15
"new" digital TV channels. The campaign has been widely criticised
because although 12 of the channels are already available, they only contain a
smattering of new content.
Critics have dubbed Freeview a marketing ploy designed to stem the flow of
viewers towards pay TV and convince people to switch from analog to digital
television.
Dan Ilic, a freelance filmmaker and comedian, and Triple J presenter Marc
Fennell, distilled many of the criticisms into a
satire video that used footage from Freeview's ads but with
a different voice over.
"With up to 15 digital channels, you can watch the same thing on up to
four different channels ... you can watch sports you've never heard of , news
you can't understand and even question time!" it says.
The video attracted almost 12,000 views in just a few days before it was
removed from the site.
However, Freeview's attempts to quash its momentum are
likely to backfire as new versions of the clip have already been published on
YouTube and other video sharing sites such as FunnyorDie.com, Dailymotion.com
and Break.com.
"I think Freeview pulled down this video as one last ditch effort in an
attempt to combat new media and I think it's only the first battle in a war
that they're going to lose," said Ilic.
"Now i'm going to tell my friends to download the original version [of
the satire video] and put it on YouTube, so hopefully there'll be a few hundred
more versions of the video on YouTube and other sites by the end of the
day."
Ilic said he and Fennell made the clip for a stand up routine called
Massage My Medium, which they will be performing during the
Melbourne International Comedy Festival between April 21 and 26. He said the
show was "all about the death of television".
Freeview did not return calls requesting comment, however, it is understood
the satire video was removed from YouTube following a copyright violation claim
from the company.
Google, which owns YouTube, will only remove YouTube videos on the basis of
copyright if it is satisfied that the objection has been lodged by the original
owner of the copyrighted material.
______________________
So where's this ad they're all on about?
It's called:
Freeview: More of
the Same Sh#t
available for download at: