Nanny state
If you bother to watch the ads you might have noticed there's
a lot offering you some suggestions on how to lead your life -
don't smoke, cut back on drinking, slow down, be nice to people
with disabilities - even what snacks you should offer your
kids. Social marketing campaigns, as they're called, are big bucks
for the ad industry, and taxpayers foot the bill. And if you
thought they're on the increase, you're right. Given that this is
government spending, Close Up thought someone from
government may front to tell us why this spending is so necessary.
We approached the Minister of Broadcasting Trevor Mallard,
Associate Health Minister Damian O'Connor and State Services
Minister David Parker. Dr Michael Cullen also declined our offer.
So in the absence of anyone from the government we have Andy
Knackstead from the LTSA and former ad man Mike Hutcheson live in
the studio.
Albany chicken cull
You might remember the fuss over Albany's trademark chickens - free
ranging behind the shops in the main drag. Business folk wanted the
chickens to stay because they had been an icon of the once rural
village for decades. But animal campaigners said they were
subject to unspeakable abuse and it was time they were gone. Today,
the chickens went under the gun. Council sharpshooters were called
in to kill the last of the roaming fowls. Eight met their fate
leaving a half dozen savvy survivors. We ask North Shore City
Council why it's came to this.
Famous NZ town
They call themselves rat race refugees - successful international
businessmen and women who throw it all in for a lifestyle change.
Lisa Strathdee's one of them - a former assistant to Italian
designer Romeo Gee-lee, she and her Italian boyfriend left Italy
three years ago to move to one of New Zealand's remotest spots -
the Hokianga. It's an area many Kiwis haven't even heard of but
Lisa, with the help of a few other residents, is making it
world famous.
