I'd go Directgov

[Mon Ami Mate]

Just seen the Government's latest monumental waste of cash advertising campaign on TV. How much are they spending on this nannying crap?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_183713...

Edited by Mon Ami Mate on Saturday 16th January 18:54

[cs02rm0]

I'm not quite sure why I'd ever have wanted to go to them for careers advice.

[AndrewW-G]

They are spending £1,000,000.00 according to Private Eye, or double the amount the Conervatives have paid for posters to go up around the country.............................not that yuo could acuse labour of grandstanding and using public funds to promote themselves prior to the election!

[turbobloke]

Yes, it gets worse and as they've been at-it for some time it's now beyond a joke.

2001
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gove...

2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5872163/Pro...

Total £540m per year.

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "The Government's spending on advertising has gone far beyond public information and is well into the territory of propaganda."

This afternoon the BBC News had an item airing just as I had to go out, I caught 'Gordon Brown targets the middle class' so must assume it's for more tax rises to pay for the rising tide of propaganda.....

[rich1231]

turbobloke said:

Yes, it gets worse and as they've been at-it for some time it's now beyond a joke.

2001
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gove...

2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5872163/Pro...

Total £540m per year.

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "The Government's spending on advertising has gone far beyond public information and is well into the territory of propaganda."

This afternoon the BBC News had an item airing just as I had to go out, I caught 'Gordon Brown targets the middle class' so must assume it's for more tax rises to pay for the rising tide of propaganda.....

Funny isnt it but HMRC have been directed recently to be ruthless in pursuing the middle classes... i kid you not

[Mon Ami Mate]

Just had a response to a FoI request:

Thank you for your email to our Directgov customer helpdesk, which we received on the 18th January. You asked how much has been spent on the Directgov advertising campaign and how this can be justified at this time.

The total cost of production and airtime purchased to date combined is £2.05m.

Directgov has the potential to enable Government to make substantial savings in shifting from traditional to digital channels. For those savings to be realised, it is vital that the public are aware of and trust Directgov as the Government's official website. The aim of the campaign is to increase awareness so that Directgov is the first site people think of for government information, and one which they both trust and recommend to others.

[mybrainhurts]

That woman doing pensions...

Didn't she get killed..?

Edited by mybrainhurts on Thursday 4th February 14:06

[NOTmybrainhurts]

mybrainhurts said:

That woman doing pensions...

Didn't she get killed..?

Honor Blackman...?

Edited by mybrainhurts on Thursday 4th February 14:06

[mybrainhurts]

NOTmybrainhurts said:

mybrainhurts said:

That woman doing pensions...

Didn't she get killed..?

Honor Blackman...?

No, on a horse...

Edited by mybrainhurts on Thursday 4th February 14:07

[Kermit power]

Mon Ami Mate said:

Just seen the Government's latest monumental waste of cash advertising campaign on TV. How much are they spending on this nannying crap?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_183713...

Why do you believe it to be a waste of money?

Or, to put it another way, Coke spends $2.5Bn a year on advertising. Would you sack their board? Given that they make around $20Bn a year in profit, I'd guess not?

You can't say whether the Direct Gov expenditure is a waste of money or not without knowing the other side of the equation.

So they've spend a touch over £2M to date on it? There's what, 65 million people in the UK? So they need to make cost savings of about thruppence per person for the outlay to be worth it.

OK, there's still the question of whether this stty government would actually use the savings to cut our deficit, but is it really unrealistic to think that pushing people to essentially staff-free internet transactions could save that 3.15p per inhabitant?

I'm all for people getting annoyed with the government, but let's at least get annoyed about the right things.

[Pints]

mybrainhurts said:

NOTmybrainhurts said:

mybrainhurts said:

That woman doing pensions...

Didn't she get killed..?

Honor Blackman...?

No, on a horse...

Edited by mybrainhurts on Thursday 4th February 14:07

[zac510]

Love this picture.. http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_...

[hornetrider]

Kermit power said:

Mon Ami Mate said:

Just seen the Government's latest monumental waste of cash advertising campaign on TV. How much are they spending on this nannying crap?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_183713...

Why do you believe it to be a waste of money?

Or, to put it another way, Coke spends $2.5Bn a year on advertising. Would you sack their board? Given that they make around $20Bn a year in profit, I'd guess not?

You can't say whether the Direct Gov expenditure is a waste of money or not without knowing the other side of the equation.

So they've spend a touch over £2M to date on it? There's what, 65 million people in the UK? So they need to make cost savings of about thruppence per person for the outlay to be worth it.

OK, there's still the question of whether this stty government would actually use the savings to cut our deficit, but is it really unrealistic to think that pushing people to essentially staff-free internet transactions could save that 3.15p per inhabitant?

I'm all for people getting annoyed with the government, but let's at least get annoyed about the right things.

Do we need all those 'stars' to keep saying "Go direct guv"?? How much do they cost?

Just put up a black screen, with massive white writing on it with the website address. Job fking done. Who's voting for me eh? I'm sick and tired of seeing taxpayers cash pissed up against the wall.

s.

/andbreathe

[Kermit power]

hornetrider said:

Kermit power said:

Mon Ami Mate said:

Just seen the Government's latest monumental waste of cash advertising campaign on TV. How much are they spending on this nannying crap?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_183713...

Why do you believe it to be a waste of money?

Or, to put it another way, Coke spends $2.5Bn a year on advertising. Would you sack their board? Given that they make around $20Bn a year in profit, I'd guess not?

You can't say whether the Direct Gov expenditure is a waste of money or not without knowing the other side of the equation.

So they've spend a touch over £2M to date on it? There's what, 65 million people in the UK? So they need to make cost savings of about thruppence per person for the outlay to be worth it.

OK, there's still the question of whether this stty government would actually use the savings to cut our deficit, but is it really unrealistic to think that pushing people to essentially staff-free internet transactions could save that 3.15p per inhabitant?

I'm all for people getting annoyed with the government, but let's at least get annoyed about the right things.

Do we need all those 'stars' to keep saying "Go direct guv"?? How much do they cost?

Just put up a black screen, with massive white writing on it with the website address. Job fking done. Who's voting for me eh? I'm sick and tired of seeing taxpayers cash pissed up against the wall.

s.

/andbreathe

What would be the cost savings from adverts with highly paid stars?

What would be the cost savings from adverts with white writing on a black screen?

What would be the cost of not advertising at all?

Again, without knowing the answer to these questions, you can't know whether or not paying the stars constitutes good or bad value for money. This being the case, you can rant all you like about it, but it seems a bit pointless!

It's a simple equation...

If expenditure exceeds savings, this is a bad initiative.

If savings exceed expenditure, this is a good initiative.

Until someone can tell us the savings figure, what's the point getting worked up by it all?

[Mclovin]

it serves no purpose its merely propaganda before an election.....the real issue is the taxpayer never gets value for money for anything....