Wednesday, July 4, 2012

The Age Pleads: Spurn Our Advertisers!


SAY WHAT you like about The Age, but you cannot fault Melbourne’s broadsheet for failing to stick with its principles.  Take senior editor Michael Short, for example, who might at some dimly grasped level of comprehension appreciate that newspapers are supported by advertisers keen to bring customers into their shops. But does that consideration colour his journalism?

Not on your nelly! With the retail sector experiencing all sorts of pain, Myer reeling and David Jones valued primarily for its real estate, Short today provides a sympathetic pulpit to Tamara DiMattina, who wants readers to spend October spurning consumerist emporiums of the sort that advertise their wares in the pages of the Age and Silly. Ms DiMattina explains:

"Buy Nothing New Month is not at all against retail; it's not anti-capitalist … It's suggesting you buy as much as you like during Buy Nothing New Month, as long as it is second hand. If you want to get into the Brotherhood of St Laurence stores or Sacred Heart Mission stores, they have great stuff. But if you wouldn't set foot inside a charity store, then there are also plenty of second-hand designer stores, as well."

Short must feel there is no risk to advocating DiMattina’s cause on the grounds that, since the Age recycles green memes endlessly, there is absolutely nothing new in its pages that remaining readers will feel obliged to boycott.

UPDATE: Girls, why opt for one of those fusty, well-cut, properly hemmed-and-darted, planet-destroying frocks when you could be the toast of the Age newsroom -- if not the paper's advertising manager -- in something like this fetching little number, which DiMattina whipped up herself?




DiMattina thinks her dress "looks way better than the cookie cutter approach of high street labels". To Age readers perhaps.

47 comments:

  1. Serendipitously October is the month I'll be buying the new turbo kit for the Hi Lux.
    I swear I didn't know of Tami's attempt at social engineering or I'd have brought forward the November purchase of the pièce de résistance, the new Lowrance HDS Gen2 10" sounder and GPS, to October.

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  2. Just imagine, for a moment, what a dying newspaper might be like? The stories it covers, how it covers those stories and the kind of editors and journalists it employs.

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    Replies
    1. You don't have to imagine ANYTHING. There are two examples for you to see in the process of dying.

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  3. Strong peseant calves to match the outfit on the link. Must have got the idea from Silence of the Lambs from the look of it.

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    Replies
    1. Or as Hannibal might say -- Is she a large girl, roomy?

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    2. Yes, strong peasant calves for when we all have to go back to subsistence farming and pull our own ploughs around muddy fields. If the greens get their way.

      Stan

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  4. The Old and Unimproved DaveJuly 4, 2012 at 11:01 AM

    So, if the wind blows her hemlines up, Marilyn Monroe style, can we expect to see 'Sydney Flour Mills' printed across her knickers ?

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    Replies
    1. Brilliant!.....I'd like to see that......!

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  5. In her capacity as a PR hack and ersatz political activist, Ms. DiMattina makes a wonderful seamstress.

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  6. When Prime Minister Abbot takes Power from the criminal Fools I forecast Australias Biggest Export will be self seeking tertiary"indoctrinated onion scammer officials .soshalit left batchelors of them yarts and sandal wearing groins , all fleeing Investigation.god knows what North Korea will think of us then ! And who gives a shitb!

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  7. Buy Nothing New Month...

    Earth Hour...

    The Occupy Movement...

    We live in the age of 'beyond stupid'. History will not look back at us without laughing.

    jupes

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  8. Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.July 4, 2012 at 1:52 PM

    Good afternoon, Prof. I have just returned from a happy spending spree celebrating July 4th by thrashing Da Ape's Diamond and Gold cards, and very useful they have been to improve my wardrobe on the catwalk of Collins Street and to give a few designers a little lift as well. It's 'buy everything new' month in this household as we set about replenishing stocks of goods left unloved in Sydney after the big move south and a great excuse for me to go to town, as it were. Haven't come across a little boutique called Town Mode in Melbourne yet though. I do wonder about that. Didn't our PM shop there at one time?

    But my heart goes out to Ms. DiMattina and how good of you to bring her plight to attention for my advice. Darling girl, it is like my efforts at sewing - the seams always emerged inside-out and a bit whoopsy. Do stop doing this (we should not go in life where we do not have talent). Away with you (as it were), go and buy yourself a nice dress, brand new and enjoy admiring glances. And then write an article about capitalism and branding and profits and turnover, in order to increase the sadly-lacking profits at your place, there's an angel.

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    1. Lizzie, I have no doubt that Ms Dimattina has a very good understanding of capitalism if the outrageous prices she is charging for her fashion items in her online boutique are any indication. If they all sell at those prices then she also understands profit and turnover. Big if, but!

      Megan - the new and improved blogspot insists on me remaining anonymous.

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    2. My sympathies lie with Da Ape.
      Not long after the nuptials were formalised and the Lion household was launched I had to explain to Mrs Lion that the number in the top right of the credit card statement was a LIMIT ….. not a TARGET.
      Nigh on thirty years have passed and the same plea still falls on stony ground and cloth ears.

      The Irish Lion .... older, wiser, poorer

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  9. " ...trying to get people to think: 'Do I need it? ..."

    Why the didactic finger-wagging? Why can't the bloody woman say "look at all the great stuff you can find at the Salvos" and just leave it at that?

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    Replies
    1. Excellent question. Perhaps the didactic finger-wagging is simply PR.

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  10. It's either the Bride of Frankenstein or she's got her dress on inside-out.

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  11. Does the buy nothing new apply to food as well?


    Dave - Madang

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    Replies
    1. My thoughts, too. Milk in particular. And bread.

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  12. in-turned knees. Me thinks this lady needs to start searching her favourite Op Shop for some orthopedics or she is looking at some pain in later life. Lower back, calves and possibly shin splints.

    I also wonder if she realises that Op Shops are not actually self sustaining and if no body buys anything new (so they can later dispose of them at said Op Shop) then they will die.

    Remember kids, if you TRUELY love your local Op Shop, you will throw out your current wardrobe and buy a complete new set NOW. Weekly.

    Buy Stuff - Op Shops Need You!! :D

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  13. I failed First Form needlework, back in the time of the dark, satanic mills, but even I can see that her sewing skills are dubious. And the absolute beady eyed focus of the hideously scary needlework teacher was on sewing for FIT. Something that has clearly been overlooked in Ms DiMattina's seamstress skills acquisition.

    And she wants us to spurn the consumerist emporiums in favour of her online boutique? Also wondering by how much she undercuts the standard rate in her Mung Bean to Mainstream consultancy company. She's clearly not averse to using the capitalist free market system to rip off consumers. Her online 'boutique'* is charging $420 per dress and $670 for bags made out of old magazine pages...she's an A-grade, gold plated hypocrite!

    * Surely the word 'boutique'is a little too "cookie cutter" for you, dear? What's wrong with SHOP?

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  14. To the student of history (I'm not) there have been occasions in the past when people have looked back and said " how could these idiots not have seen the express train on the track that is going to take them out" - South Sea bubble, the Dutch Tulip mania , and others, etc.
    Why are these people of the left, watermelons etc. so blind?
    They are fools, knaves and every other expletive you can add.
    They will go the way of all village idiots, drowned in the ducking pond because they could not get a grasp on reality.
    Lord, beam me up Scotty, for sanity sakes.

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  15. Is it really hygienic to recycle hospital linen? I mean people have probably died in those sheets... and with less suture marks too.

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  16. Judging by the superfluous subcutaneous padding on those triceps, I'd say Ms DiMattina could easy embrace an Eat Nothing New month.

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  17. I don't get this.
    When some Age flunky suggest we all dress in third world attire it is lauded from the rooftops of Brunswick.
    But when Alan Jones simply suggests that our esteemed head yabby wear a hessian swimsuit they are all over him like ... well ... a hessian swimsuit.
    What gives dude?

    The Irish Lion 4.2.1

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  18. Now who else was advocating 'Buy Nothing' month? Yes! It was Sydney's own CLOVER MOORE, quite bizarrely urging people not to bring any of their filthy money into Sydney retailers:

    The mayor of Sydney has come out in support of a campaign urging shoppers to buy fewer new products, to the horror of struggling retailers and the New South Wales premier.

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  19. Looks like something the cat dragged in, after a dumpster dive.

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  20. Jupes, if the 80s were the decade that taste forgot, the 00s will be the dearth of smart decade.

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  21. Anon @4.52 you do realise those prices don't include GST or postage, don't you?

    And a flat rate applies for postage, so your funky hipster bangle consisting of a gumleaf forever entombed in a donut of perspex will set you back $120.00 + GST of $12.00 plus postage and handling of $15.

    Wow. $147 for that?

    And considering that she's trying to talk people out of spending so much money on consumer goods, why does she get these things custom made on order at great cost? What goes into the actual manufacture and is it a sustainable, green and friendly process?

    Probably not. I can smell the hypocrisy from here.

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    Replies
    1. Bit of a bonus when the girl who sounded smart in comments sticks her photo up and turns out to be cute as well.

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  22. Sewing for FIT is so eighties(?). What is surprising and suspicious is her use of red to alert us to her lack of talent or artifice. Even at the op shop she could have done heaps better than that.

    OMG proving I'm not a robot is getting so hard I'm starting to doubt myself.

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  23. philby of christies beachJuly 5, 2012 at 10:12 AM

    When I first saw the photo I thought she had an amputated arm. When I looked at the dress she made I realised she probably has.

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  24. Fairfax Directors are certainly having a spending spree buying second hand trash.
    ASX Announcements today reveal that there have been big moves on the FXJ register of late:-
    Director Linda Bardo (Bardo??) NICHOLLS has increased her stake from 40,387 shares to 53,262 shares, buying in at $0.54/Share. This now takes her holding to 0.002% of Issued Capital
    Director Sandra Veronica McPHEE has increased her stake from 40,220 shares to 53,376 shares, also buying in at a snip of $0.54/Share. She is also sitting on a stake of 0.002% of Issued Capital.

    And the purchases were made using after-tax Directors Fees
    So the fee you get for trashing the share price you use to buy more shares at a lower price.
    Talk about skin in the game!!!

    Now I think my arithmetic is correct here …. if owning 0.002% of the company is enough for a board seat, then Gina is entitled to about 8,400 board seats.

    The Irish Lion

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  25. Fairfax still uses some newly manufactured paper as fodder for its presses. A more appropriate practice would be to use the animal dung product like that manufactured from the excrements of the North American moose and other ruminants, on behalf of some environment action groups.
    Apropoos, and not just for October.

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  26. Good heavens, that looks like something children used to whip up out of odd pieces of material that Mum's used to put in a bag for their toys outfits.

    Surely this lady jests?

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  27. Been thinking about launching a Vacuous Consumption Fightback. Wandered down to the Koala Killers (H Normans) to have a look at Plasma TVs.
    Have to get the power hungry 200Hz type mainly for watching the Bombers - they are so quick these days they are just a blur on the old TV.
    But they only go up to 165cm (that's 65" to you Prof)
    Can anyone recommend anything bigger and noisier?

    The Irish Lion

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  28. First rule in needlework class:
    Match the cotton colour to the material colour
    Second rule in needlework class:
    Put both right sides together so you sew along the wrong or inside edges, enabling you to turn the garment right side out and HIDE the stitches when done!

    Anohter epic FAIL byone of the Failfax mob!

    (Just sayin, as she thinks she is an expert whereas she is the rankest amateur!)

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  29. Love the 'Ads by Google' ad when I viewed - 'GE Capital uses industry experience to Help Australian Businesses Grow' - not much growth in eclectic second-hand shopping

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  30. Love the 'Ads by Google' ad when I read Tamara's conscientious consumption piece - "GE Capital use industry experience to Help Austrailain Businesses Grow" - not much growth in eclectic second hand shopping

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  31. DiMattina....were we married once?

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  32. From the website linked at the bottom:

    "Tamara Dimattina is far to (sic) modest."

    Yes and she has much to be modest about.

    Idiots.

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  33. You might want to have a look at the Wilcox cartoon in today's Sydney Morning Herald.

    I was one of the millions who watched and enjoyed the State of Origin match on Wednesday.

    According to bien-pensant cartoonist I am living in an "intellectual vacuum". How nice of them to tell me.

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  34. It must make her mum proud to see her step out in such style.
    Oh, am I allowed to suggest that she has only one mother these days, or is that discriminatory against naturally superior same-sex parents?

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  35. mojo, Unrepentant YankJuly 7, 2012 at 2:23 AM

    Can she call the clothing line "Derilicte", or is that copyrighted??

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  36. "properly hemmed-and-darted".

    I'm impressed. That you even know what that means.

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  37. "Buy nothing new month"
    "Wear this" day.
    "Wear that" day.
    "Take this to work" day.
    "Bring this to work" day.

    How about all you people avoiding real work by leaching taxpayer money under the pretence of creating yet another "day" just go get real work.

    If you donate 10% of your hard-earned to the Salvos it will actually do so some good.
    Yes, it's harder than pretending you "run a charity".
    Yes, you actually have to work.
    Yes, your kids might have someone to actually look up to.

    mr.simmon

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  38. I wonder if she will close her online shop during buy nothing new month?
    /crickets

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