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<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Read this for yourself to
believe it<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Solar power ad rejected for
being "problematic"<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Crikey reporter Sophie Black
writes:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">The people behind renewable
energy company SolarShop were overjoyed when high profile scientist Dr Tim
Flannery agreed to appear in their latest TV commercial. That is, until
Commercials Advice (CAD), the company in charge of classification and approval
of ad content on behalf of the Federation of Australian Commercial Television
Broadcasters, made the unusual move of rejecting the commercial after initially
approving it.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">SolarShop, a South
Australian company, now suspects CAD of bowing to political interference after
they were told that the rejection was based on Flannery's statement, "Climate
Change is the greatest threat facing humanity today."
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">SolarShop managing director
Adrian Ferraretto began to suspect something "very fishy" after the ad was
initially approved last Wednesday afternoon, 48 hours after SolarShop sent the
commercial for approval. It wasn't until mid afternoon on the following Friday
that CAD informed SolarShop that they'd changed their minds. "To have it
approved...and then disapproved on Friday, when the ads were due to go to air on
Sunday morning seems very suspicious, and highly unusual," Ferraretto told
Crikey.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">CAD notified SolarShop of
their new decision less than 48 hours before the advertisement featuring
Flannery was due to debut during Sunday on Channel Nine. Flannery's statement
was also set to run as a community service announcement supported by Channel
Nine and SolarShop but that was also rejected by
CAD.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">"We tried to email, call
them ... but they weren't taking our calls. We still haven't heard back from
them. Meanwhile we've spent $50,000 on a month's worth of <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Adelaide</st1:place></st1:City> air time and we
can't run the ad. We had to rejig an old ad, without Flannery, and run that
instead."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">In the email sent to
SolarShop on Friday, Commercials Advice lawyer Jason Poulos wrote that
Flannery's initial statement was "problematic". <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">In order to preserve the
accuracy of the advertisements, can you please revisit this statement and
consider using alternative wording as description of the issue of climate
change. Examples you might wish to consider are "Climate change is one of the
greatest threats facing humanity today" or "Climate change is an important issue
for us all".<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">"Flannery was very upset,"
said Ferraretto. "We are too. It was such a coup to get him on our ad, we were
so excited, but now we can't air it and we're not sure
why."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Ferraretto suspects that it
was the announcer's (not Flannery's) statement at the end of the ad - "Solar
electricity from the SolarShop,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Stepney: we're DOING Kyoto
ANYWAY!" - that raised the ire of whoever rejected the ad. Ferraretto says
SolarShop are currently reviewing their legal options.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Courier New" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Crikey contacted CAD for a
response but they didn't get back to us before publication.</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Christal
George<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Corporate Ethics
Researcher<BR>Centre for Australian Ethical Research (CAER)<BR><st1:address
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tabIndex=0 w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on">PO Box</st1:Street>
229</st1:address>, Belconnen ACT 2616<BR>Ph: +61 2 6201 1957<BR>Fax:
+ 61 2 6201 1987<BR>E-mail: <A title=mailto:psloane@caer.org.au
href="mailto:cgeorge@caer.org.au">cgeorge@caer.org.au</A><BR>Web: <A
title=http://www.caer.org.au/
href="http://www.caer.org.au">www.caer.org.au</A></SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV><BR>--------------------<BR>IMPORTANT:
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