ACC ad in Dominion Nov 5 (now with 100% more PDF)

[GOONR]

Emailed my local MP and made a complaint with asa, I don't know if it will do any good but at least it keeps the pressure up.

[Ixion]

Just a thought here. Is a flood of letters to the Editor just going to draw attention to the ads?

I actually read the harold paper copy this morning (there was one in the lunch room and I was bored) and didn't see it at all (yeah, I'm blind).

realisticallly how effective is advertsied in tree pieces media nowadays? Only old people will be likely to read it, since the on line papers don't have such ads.

[vtec]

Here's a copy of the letter I just forwarded the herald... sorry I poached quotes from some of you guys and used them as my own. There's some brains on this forum.

Will forward a copy to ACC too.

Dear news staff,

I see you've published an advertisement for ACC regarding the increased motorcycling levies. This advertisement includes mostly false claims by ACC.

Firstly, and most obviously is the claim that other motorvehicle drivers are subsidising motorcyclist by $77 per vehicle. Simple arithmetic shows that if each of the 2,584,509 registered light vehicles in New Zealand paid $77 the total amount collected by ACC in levy increases alone would equal $199,007,193 ($77 x 2,584,509 = $199,007,193) which means car and van drivers will be paying $149m more than the total ACC cost supposedly incurred by motorcyclists.

Second most obvious flaw is the claim that motorcyclists are 16 times more likely to have a claim related accident, this is also blatantly false as shown in the "claim frequency.jpg" that I have attached and sourced from ACC themselves (page 28 of the consultation document). It shows in the worst bracket for claim related crashes (125-600cc) that they are only 4.4 times more likely to have a claim related crash.

Also, the claim that they are more likely to be seriously injured in the claim crashes is also false as shown by the data below, in the 2008 year (the latest year we have the information available from) the following claims were made:

Cyclists
567 active claims
$12,573,000
$22,174 per claim

Pedestrians
1115 active claims
$24,494,000
$21,967 per claim

Car Occupants:
8525 active claims
$208,305,000
$24,434 per claim

Motorcyclists:
3173 active claims
$62,523,000
$19,704 per claim

It shows that claims for individual motorcyling injuries are actually less than for car drivers, these stats also indicate, very clearly that only $62 million is being spent.

I could go on about the other points, but there is no hard evidence supplied by ACC in the advertisement for me to research. And access for the basis of their stats is not accessible either. But they are either misleading or blatantly false.

This is not acceptable for a media outlet of the NZHerald's standing to publish such misinformation designed at being divisive and discriminatory. I will be forwarding a copy of this email to the Advertising Standards Authority.

Regards


Jason McCamish

[Ixion]

Thanks guys and now this is where the $77 comes from.

Last year ACC paid out $62 million in ACC claims. And you've all been foolishly basing your numbers on that. You need to realise ACC haven't done that. They picked an arbitrary number for next years claims. They chose $252 million. ..

Actually, we do realise that. And, from an insurance actuary's point of view it is correct.

but

a) this is not a debate between actuaries or statisticians. This is a propaganda war. ACC are presenting information in a highly slanted fashion. We can (and should) do the same. ACC's figure is technically correct. So is ours. Ours is easier for Joe Q Public, that deep and incisive thinker, to understand. Indeed , an eight year old can understand it. If ACC try to explain their number Joe's eyes will glaze over.
b) The actuarial basis of thenumbers is highly suspect and politicised. One could take a dartboard and get almost any number

[MSTRS:Me]

Write to your MP, as well. Mine...

I am disgusted to see ACC, who are apparently broke, spending the public's money by placing ads in the major dailies. Ads which are full of the same old lies and inconsistancies and, at best, are little more than anti-motorcyclist propaganda aimed at the general public. Attempting to sway those people's opinions and encouraging them to put in submissions, when the readers have been influenced in this way, is so far beyond the pale as to be incomprehensible.
Obviously, motorcyclists are 'on the back foot' when it comes to resources of this magnitude, but our resistance to the levy increases is based on drawing attention to ACC's spurious statistics and cost claims. Not on disseminating lies and using publicly funded attempts to vilify a section of the public in the eyes of the rest.

Complaints have been sent to the papers involved and to the ASA, but I don't think that goes far enough. Questions need to be raised at the Parliamentary level over this issue.

[riffer]

Here's a copy of the letter I just forwarded the herald... sorry I poached quotes from some of you guys and used them as my own. There's some brains on this forum.

Will forward a copy to ACC too.

Don't apologise. It's a good spin technique to keep the same info coming in all your marketing.

It's called "Consistency of Communication".

[MSTRS:Me]

Don't apologise. It's a good spin technique to keep the same info coming in all your marketing.

It's called "Consistency of Communication".

I note that ACC employ this technique. The claims might be bullshit, but that has little to do with it.

[riffer]

I note that ACC employ this technique. The claims might be bullshit, but that has little to do with it.

Exactly. It's one of the first rules of effective Propaganda.

I think they've totally underestimated us at first but now they've upped the ante we need to step up our game too.

They've definitely not counted on how many Comms professionals there are in the New Zealand motorcycling community though...

[98tls]

Wonder if we could rustle up enough cash via KBers to take out our own add,count me in for $50 or so.

[bogan]

we need to step up our game too.

I hear that, before this add campaign it seemed like it could be an honest mistake in being supplied with the wrong figures, now it is obvious that this is an attack leveled at the motorcycle community, and I will not stand for it.

[Azi Dahaka]

Thats very good D,wonder if we could rustle up enough cash via KBers to take out our own add,count me in for $50 or so.

ok note on how much it costed acc

our comms officer said it costed them about 2.5k for the dom and 5.5k for the herald that is alot of money to gather together

[MSTRS:Me]

ok note on how much it costed acc

our comms officer said it costed them about 2.5k for the dom and 5.5k for the herald that is alot of money to gather together

It is. Don't forget, there are a few other dailies that are likely to have that ad too. HBToday is not out yet, don't know about the Chch Star/Press? or ODT.

[BiK3RChiK]

I've been talking to a heap of people around town since our photo got on the front page of the local paper and most of them (car drivers) don't swallow ACC's BS. Most of them seem to be on the side of motorcyclists. It's just getting them to vocalise it to the right people...

[Mully]

It is. Don't forget, there are a few other dailies that are likely to have that ad too. HBToday is not out yet, don't know about the Chch Star/Press? or ODT.

It's also highly unlikely that ACC will be paying "retail" for that space.

[Bounce001]

Just submitted my complaint to ASA.

ACC never cease to astound me to the depths they will sink to.