Why does the co-opting of ANZAC day feel so icky?
3 hours after launching their ‘Fresh in our Memories’ website, Woolworths pulled the whole thing down.
The website superficially was meant to be a place where people could share their memories of war veterans and upload a commemorative picture to social media.
Like this guy:
Always the danger with social media. Once you give people control, anything can happen.
Woolworths immediately came under a heavy battery of criticism – for cashing in on the ANZAC legend in a crass and tacky way.
Knowing that there’s no mileage to be made out of being seen to be taking advantage of our beloved ANZACs, Woolworth went into immediate retreat.
The mood on social media circles was, how could they be so dumb?
But Woolworths must be thinking, how did we get so unlucky?
‘Why is everybody picking on us? Everybody’s doing it.’
Like how is it any different from VB’s ‘raise a glass’ campaign? Sure, that campaign got off the ground a little earlier (2009), so it doesn’t feel quite so much like jumping on the ANZAC centenary bandwagon.
But it’s still the same idea. Tie your brand to the ANZAC legend in the consumers mind.
Sure they donate $1m every year to Legacy and the RSL, regardless of how much they sell.
But essentially they’re just buying the rights to the brand. If you wanted a famous sportsperson or celebrity to endorse your brand it would probably cost as much.
And let’s face it, it doesn’t get much more famous or popular than the ANZACs. $1 mill is cheap.
Or what about the ‘Camp Gallipoli’ concert series? How tasteful is it to equate the hardships endured by ANZACs at Gallipoli with a music festival?
I’ll leave this one to the wags at The Shovel .
2015 Camp Gallipoli™ v The Original Gallipoli:
Can You Spot The 9 Differences?
This year’s Camp Gallipoli does a pretty good job of replicating the original Gallipoli event of 1915. But take a closer look and you may be able to spot some important differences. We’ve managed to spot nine. Can you find them all?
Here they are …
- The logo: Camp Gallipoli’s logo uses a capitalised font. But the branding the diggers in 1915 would have seen used a lower-case script font, which was popular with designers at the time.
- The entertainment: Camp Gallipoli will feature acts like Shannon Noll and You Am I, whereas the original Gallipoli will always be remembered for the legendary two-hour set from Aussie rockers AC-DC.
- Parking: The Camp Gallipoli organisers have advised festival goers that they will not be able to drive directly up to their camping space. At the original Gallipoli there was ample parking available, and participants generally set up camp next to their car.
- Ticketing: This year ticketing is being managed through Ticketek with most tickets sold online. In 1915 the majority of tickets were sold in-store.
- Movies: Punters this year will settle in to watch Russell Crowe’s The Water Diviner on the big screen. In 1915 they watched Crowe’s rom-com The Sum of Us.
- The lawn: The grass at this year’s events will be left uncut for a week to provide a rustic feel for campers. The grass at Gallipoli was trimmed daily.
- Breakfast: This year’s attendees will receive a cooked breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast. Due to a catering mishap at the original Gallipoli, diggers were left without toast.
- Swags: At this year’s event, Deluxe Camp Gallipoli Anzac Swags cost $275, and are available online or at Target. At the original Gallipoli, swags could only be bought at Target.
- OH&S: This year’s OH&S policy advises campers against using guy ropes on their swags due to tripping hazards. In 1915 guy ropes were allowed, but signs at the site advised diggers to bend their knees before lifting their swag.
Camp Gallipoli and Target are also making a donation to Legacy and the RSL, but it’s exactly the same deal. Effectively they’re just buying marketing rights.
And tell me, how is it different to what Woolworth’s were doing?
I think Woolworth’s just ended being a lightning rod for growing frustration and repulsion at the way ANZAC day is co-opted by selfish interests.
But it’s not just corporate interests. It’s not just about brands trying to leverage off ANZAC good-will. I’m also looking at teenagers at music festivals wearing Australian flags as capes here.
It’s about drawing on something real and something great in order to construct a sense of identity – an identity that’s pleasing to yourself and to others.
It’s about vanity.
The legacy of the ANZACs – the gifts that the ANZACs gave Australia – wasn’t just something we could feel proud about and bolster our fragile egos with. It wasn’t just a glorious wagon to hitch our identities too.
It was a sacrifice.
It should be remembered as a beautiful act of selflessness. The kind of selflessness that makes you think that maybe the human species has a future after all.
ANZAC day should be a reminder of the best that humanity is capable of. It should be a celebration of putting petty self interest aside in the name of a greater good.
Co-opting this intention for your own purposes –either to build a brand or a more grandiose sense of self – goes directly against this idea.
It’s using selfless sacrifice to promote selfish ends.
And that’s why it feels so cheap and icky.
If there is an ‘ANZAC spirit’ then I think it is in sacrifice – and that spirit lives on in the millions of people who are working to make the world a better place.
It’s a spirit that’s worth celebrating.
But there’s no room for selfishness here.
What does Anzac Day mean to you?
Graeme says
To me it is at risk of losing it’s identity… Politics, and commercial interests have grabbed the limelight. You talked about VB, Woolworths and others and I completely agree but there is also a Prime Minister with low popularity who has seized the day to seems like a good bloke when he swills a beer and endorses the Anzac spirit. What a shame.
John says
I left the Army about five years ago after just under 10 years of service, including in some of our more recent deployments. So I can’t speak for the Anzacs or even really for all of my fellow contemporary soldiers with any real authority but I can give my perspective from my experience. And if soldiers 100 years ago were anything like soldiers today, then there might be some truth in what I’ve observed.
For me and the close mates I served with, I don’t know anyone who went to war (or peacekeeping, or nation building or whatever we call it these days)because of a strong sense of patriotism, humility, personal sacrifice, honour etc. We went because our mates were going, and I’m not going to hide out at home while my mate goes and risks his life – I’d never hear the end of it. Orders from officers, political posturing and religion had nothing to do with our decision.
What frustrates me most about Anzac Day now is all the prayers and hymns and general God bothering that to me doesn’t reflect the nature of the people who the day is about.
But if it’s okay for the religions to put their stamp on Anzac Day, and the politicians all get on the bandwagon, even the RSL clubs, separate to the actual RSL, profit hugely from the implied association all year round, so who cares what other businesses do? They’re just marketing. I don’t believe Mars bars have any influence on my ability to work, rest and play, and I don’t believe Woolworths, the Minister for Veterans Affairs or any church in Australia actually cares about the Anzacs. So what? I didn’t do it for them and I doubt the Anzacs did either.
Tomorrow is a day when I’m going to catch up with some old mates, have a few drinks (responsible ones, because you know the kind of uproar in the media whenever soldiers get on the turps and do something stupid), and everyone else can commemorate (or not) the day any way they want.
Chris says
You are quite right (in my opinion) about all the organisations cashing in on ANZAC day. An advert running on my station platform for ‘Camp Gallipoli’ says, among other hyperbole, ‘camp out under the stars like the original ANZACS’. Really? But without the shocking food, the shells, the whizzbangs, the bullets, the disease, the despair, the deaths and maimings, the stench of s**t and all the rest. After the event I will be writing to the organisers for a full report of exactly how much cash went to charity, and how much went to the board, the executives and the senior management of this ‘not for profit’.
But I also agree with John. Read the accounts of soldiers from the time and they, like John, say that they went for the adventure, to escape poverty, to ‘have a go at the Hun’. They didn’t go for patriotism, God or the Prime Minister. Yes, they died, but, it has to be pointed out, they were ALL volunteers.
ANZAC is largely a myth created and nurtured by governments desperate to put a patriotic gloss on the waste of life that they sanction by going to war.
Why can’t we have a day that celebrates the things that have truly created the best that our society has to offer – free universal education and healthcare, achievements in science and the arts, universal suffrage (one of the first countries), you add your own to the list. Why must we persist in the nonsense that our country’s spirit was formed by the failure of a relatively small and insignificant campaign in a colonial war?
Jenni Radke says
Fully agree Jon. I think it’s also offensive when commentators refer to footballers as ‘warriors’ and a footy game as ‘war’. It’s big blokes chasing a ball for goodness sake! A game! Gallipoli wasn’t. It shows a general lack of common sense and respect too frequently exhibited these days
Tim H says
I can’t imagine what it would be like serving in a war and this to me is the crux of Anzac Day. The soldiers (read army, air force and navy) whether by choice or conscription over the years have made their way to battle with the chance of coming back down to their level of training, some good luck and also some good management.
I’ve heard soldiers speak in the past both on Anzac Day and at other times and like John the army soldier who posted below these people spoke most strongly of their mates and how that was the most important thing to them. Some spoke of the sadness of seeing their mates killed in conflict, some about how their mates where injured both physically and emotionally, some who were seriously injured spoke with pride about what their mates did for them and others like John spoke about spending time with their mates.
Anzac Day is a day to honor these soldiers for doing something that the vast majority of us would not do, to say to them well done and to reflect on the sacrifices they have made to allow us and our mates to live safely in this great country.
Tom says
Hear! Hear!
Well done again Jon – you wag! Love your insights and sense of humour, which helps highlight the futility of all war and the selfish opportunistic desecration of the honour and mateship of our forebears and Mates.
Personally, I consider all war to be a war crime.
I was born at home, (because hospitals were needed for very serious cases), in early 1942, with ‘doodlebugs’ flying overhead, on their way from the Netherlands to London – with the less efficient rockets dumping their screaming load around our area. During the War, the civilians had to take all these things in their stride, while they looked after the less fortunate. I remember my Mother feinting several years later, when an ABC radio play had the sound of a doodlebug falling. Was that a sign of civilian PTSD? I’m sure the psychologists have a name for it – delayed reaction? A big bloody delay!!!
I can also clearly remember sleeping with my arms up in the surrender position, in case the Germans came during the night. That mus have been before D-Day. How old must I have been then? Young minds are very impressionable.
Although less than four when WW2 ended, I have a vivid recollection of
one sister and myself, defying the air raid sirens and instead of heading inside, to huddle under the big dining table which was covered with floor-length heavy covers, to protect us from shattering glass and other flying debris; instead, standing outside with our backs against the
scullery wall, watching the RAF fighters do battle with the fighters and bombers
which were heading inland to London on a raid. Poor Mother nearly had a heart attack when she did a roll call and found two missing. Poor old Biddy did cop a hiding – even though, knowing what a terrible kid I was, it was probably my idea to watch the dog fighting.
Is it any wonder that I’m a confirmed pacifist?
Years later, I witnessed twar’s effects upon some of my Mates, who served in Vietnam.
They went away as bright, enthusiastic youths, only to return as very badly affected young ‘old men’. Joy had gone out of their eyes! They became touchy, tortured souls.
And why? Because our brown-tonguing politicians were sucking up to the Yanks, who had decided they wanted to control the world’s opium trade, taking over from the French, who lost that control when they were kicked out after Dien Bien Fu.
America and Australia had no right to interfere in what had been a localised civil war. In an attempt to justify their involvement, the Yanks conveniently branded it as a war against Communism. The ‘Domino Theory’ was adopted as justification by our local politicians. All hogwash!!! All wars are “Bankers’ Wars”. Supplies of armaments, developed during and after WW2 were building up embarrassingly. A ‘Theatre of War’ was required to dispose of redundant stock. Vietnam was manipulated with manufactured, false intelligence being invoked to get the recently triumphant, imperialistic US into a conflict, to flex its muscles and demonstrate its power to smaller nations.
One of the Agricultural Chemical companies for whom I did field testing trials, sent 24D or 245T insecticide, which had been condemned because of high ‘Dioxin’ content, to the Army in Vietnam instead of sending it back to Germany where it should have been incinerated under controlled conditions. That became “Agent Orange”, sprayed on civilians and our troops!!!
The war crimes of the wealthy business class and administrators!!! “Show me the money!!!” $$$ is the only consideration. Human decency takes a very minor back seat in its pursuit.
Unfortunately, Australia’s revulsion against the blatant manipulation of our young men in the service of the wealthy and corrupt manipulators, was taken out on the Diggers, (mainly unwilling Conscripts), instead of the idiots in Government.
Vietnam, another abysmal failure of leadership imposed on our troops has not been glorified the way Gallipoli had been. More’s the pity!!! Our generation performed no less gloriously than their grandparents and parents.
How, in God’s name, could an Australian Government, in good conscience, justify our involvement in such a sham???
We need laws which firstly require full deliberation by both houses of Parliament before deploying our “Defence” forces and secondly that unless our shores are attacked, there be immediate conscription (as privates – definitely not as officers), of all Government politicians who vote for our involvement in a war, (and of their children of applicable ages), into the first batallion deployed to the battlefield. The Pollies in power would have to hand over the reins to the Opposition. Then they would certainly be fair dinkum before wasting Aussie lives!!!
How many sham wars would we be collared with then??? A lot of chaff would be winnowed out of the array of conflicts!!!
Would “Honest John” have been so keen to get us involved in the battle for control of oil reserves, dressed up from sectarian civil war skirmishes of the Middle East, if he faced the prospect of being a front line private, on the ground??? (Incidentally, how did the Ottoman Empire control the sectarian divides? Maybe there are lessons to be learned there.)
These ludicrous ideas simply highlight the insincerity and duplicity of our politicians who, for their own sordid gain, hide behind the honourable ‘Mateship’ of Aussie Diggers who are abused and made cannon fodder in the interests of the powerful and the wealthy.
Unfortunately, every time we hold elections, we end up electing more bloody politicians!!! Why are we so poorly represented and served? But that’s a discussion point for another day.
Luke says
#100years tomorrow #AnzacDay Can’t imagine what they went through, and what the current soldiers are experiencing. #Respect #SpecialPeople
Paul M says
I’m normally very interested in anything to do with history, especially
military history. Yet I was already feeling distinctly “Gallipolied
out” by Tuesday this week! To the extent that I really feel I don’t want
to make an effort to do anything or watch anything else “ANZAC” today or tomorrow.
I’ve enjoyed most of the documentaries and dramas such as “Gallipoli’ and
“Anzac Girls” that were shown on TV earlier this year. Besides the
excellent production values and acting, it was because they pulled no punches, and
were generally fairly meticulous about accuracy. And they taught us something.
Above all, that the First World War was a catastrophic war fought for no
justification other than certain individuals’ vanities. It was literally for the
benefit or whims of King (or Tsar or Kaiser) and a few military strategists and
nationalist enthusiasts on all sides. But NOT really for country, especially as
it was the ordinary people and soldiers who most suffered because of it. While World War II
can be justified as a fight against tyranny and oppression (and made 100%
inevitable by the unfair and politically catastrophic Versailles Treaty that concluded
the Great War), World War I had no redeeming features at all. It was an
industrialised bloodbath – an unmitigated evil, unimagined and unimaginable at its
onset. And ALL SIDES share almost equal guilt for it! If only we had learned
from the monuments that said “This must never happen again!”
Personally, I think we need to regain at least a little bit of that
cynicism about Anzac Day that was predominant in the 80s, when songs like
“And the Band played Waltzing Matilda” and plays like “The One
Day of the Year” focussed on the incontrovertible fact that the Gallipoli
campaign was a military disaster, if a fairly heroic one. (Isn’t it always the
way – look at the “Charge of the Light Brigade”!) And back in the 80s
Anzac Day had deteriorated over the decades, making it questionable whether it
would – or should – survive. I’m happy enough that it has now been
rehabilitated. But I think we have been going too far beyond reasonable for
some time now.
Don’t get me wrong when I say we should be being more cynical about this
and the ANZAC legacy. I don’t deny that Anzac and the Western Front losses and
Australian successes there, as well as that magnificent charge at Beersheba
helped to coalesce a truly “Australian” legend that certainly
contributed something to the way we see ourselves, and the way the world sees
us. And the reality was that Australians turned out to be (and remain) better soldiers than almost
anyone they came up against.
And I’m certainly not criticising the vets of that or any war. I’m glad vets
are now welcomed home and celebrated, rather than being ignored and even vilified,
as they have been at other times in our (and the world’s) history. And while I
don’t necessarily support all our current military adventurism, I do support
the men and women and their families who have to do the “lifting”,
while it seems the politicians who are sending them and doing nothing about the
causes back here are doing the “leaning” – leaning on these people’s
backs for sometimes questionable motives. The public spectacle Anzac Day and
going off to fight in questionable wars have become under recent governments
borders often on jingoism. Perhaps if we invested more in educating and psychologically
addressing religious or other radicalism here, we would far less often need to
risk the lives of our soldiers half way round the world. And the government
isn’t exactly covering itself in glory caring for those returning vets with
wounds or psychological problems either. They only seem really interested in VC
winners and the dead (as well as knighting the odd foreign royal consort). Dare
I suggest also that having the odd war going on with “our boys and
girls” over there is always in the mind of some conservative politicians
as a sure vote winner?
Increasingly over the last decade and a half we are making the same mistake
with the Anzacs as we do with sporting heroes and celebrities – making them
into something they are not, at least not necessarily and not all. They were
not deities – they were ordinary people, some very capable and others less so, experiencing
and (mostly) coping with extraordinary events. And that was in the context of
an unjustified war being managed mostly by complete incompetents. If we should
be doing anything with the 100th anniversary of ANZAC and with the other
anniversaries we have experienced and will experience over these four years, it
should be to resolve to learn from these mistakes and studies in human foibles,
so that such things never happen again.