Support from other advertising organisations
26.02.10 | tim | 
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One of the more heartwarming things that’s happened since we announced NZ Bus’s decision has been all the messages of support we’re getting to our contact {at} nogod.org(.)nz email address – from both atheists and people of religion.
We have also had a handful of companies that use other advertising media say that they’ll be happy to host our ads. These have ranged from billboards to full page advertisements in major New Zealand papers. It’s good to see that many other media companies do not think our message is controversial and divisive.
We’ve also had suggestions including t-shirts, bumper stickers, and even big magnetic signs to go on the side of cars and vans!
While we’re seriously investigating legal avenues for bus ads, we’d love your creative feedback on where you, the atheists of New Zealand, would love to see the messages. We’d even love to hear what message you think would best start discussions about the legitimacy of non-belief.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all of you out there for your words of support, and also for putting the pressure on NZ Bus to explain their rejection of the ads. If NZ Bus makes possibly discriminatory decisions like this, they need to know how many people out there disagree with their decision. The choice to use their services and the messages we send them are the best sources of consumer power in our modern economy.
March 1st, 2010 at 2:35 am
Oh no, Money donated was for a bus campaign not bumper stickers which are so low to the ground. not tshirts that not many people will buy. i say newspaper Ads for 1 week. Have a link to your website in the newspaper ad too.
March 2nd, 2010 at 12:01 pm
The other option is using bill stickers around the major centres. With this kind of money you could dominate the cbd for months.
March 2nd, 2010 at 12:22 pm
It’s a bit of a bugger – I really think that for what we’re trying to achieve, bus ads are probably the best medium to go for.
I argue that we should really try to push the envelope on the bus thing before moving on to other options.
That said, it is very heartening to know there are other advertisement companies out there who don’t share suspiciously convenient opinion that an atheist based ad campaign is too ‘divisive’.
If it turns out not to be an option, or if the wait is going to be too long, I would argue for billboards. I think one or two billboards somewhere prominent in each major city would be the way to go, rather than multiple billboards that are spread out. Preferably somewhere that’s high up enough that it would be difficult to deface.
I can think of a couple of good spots in Auckland, actually. I’ll pay attention next time I’m driving past to get a rough idea of the street address. The two I like are the one over the motorway bridge that heads west towards the Khyber Pass off-ramp. The other one is off Fanshawe (I think) and is currently running an ad for the Bruno movie.
That said, I have no frame of reference for the cost of running a billboard advertisement, so this may not be reasonable with our current funding. Would this even be an option?
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As for the message we use in the ads: I still think that for what we’re trying to do, copying the UK campaign is the way to go. Keep the same slogan we’re running now.
Also consider that if we run the current slogan, society wo’t divide into a controversial and damaging culture war, and it wouldn’t effect the long term growth of the company that runs with our ads. This would become another very good talking point regarding the flimsy excuses given by NZBus for their decision and close-mindedness to negotiation.
Regarding NZBus, I consider their justification to their decision to be utter nonsense, particularly in light of their communication to those of us that have contacted them. Their decision strikes me as blatantly religious discrimination. Even if we don’t wind up going with the bus campaign in the end, I would like to see the organization held accountable for this in some way. It needn’t be financial… But some kind of public acknowledgement that discrimination against any group on religious grounds is not acceptable behavior for any New Zealand company would be reassuring.
Anyway: If I had to vote for a second favorite slogan, something along the lines of ‘Thousands/millions/some statistic of Kiwis are good without God – Are you?’ would be my next in line. Can’t remember which country ran that one, but I thought it was also a good way of raising awareness amongst the religion that atheism is another normal way to live in this country.
March 2nd, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Hello,
I’m wondering if you can start pulling in well- known/famous New Zealanders to push this message also. This is a tried-and-proven approach advertisers and even elections run on.
March 8th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Where can we complain to NZ bus? Where can we lodge complaints on the grounds of discrimination against one’s beliefs and show those accountable that this is unacceptable behaviour and that we have a voice too?
March 8th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
@Paul:
Look over the earlier thread:
http://www.nogod.org.nz/2010/02/atheist-bus-campaign-determined-to-roll-on-despite-set-back/?cp=all#comments
There’s some contact information for NZ Bus available there.
Now that you mention it, I wouldn’t mind hearing from Simon if there’s anything more we can all be doing regarding NZ Bus’ decision and the Human Rights Commission.
March 15th, 2010 at 10:48 am
A popular subject in these discussions, is why you’re doing this, when the money would be better spent on other things.
Spreading an atheistic message I hope will indeed help people think twice about their certainty in god, there are many tragedies on earth that would have been avoided if it weren’t for religion, so spreading atheism is an important endeavour. for saving lives, and saving sunday’s.
March 18th, 2010 at 11:15 am
How about making a PDF that can be printed and posted by volunteers. Zero Cost and unlimited reach.
March 20th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
@john has a good idea with the news paper ads. However, I’d opt to spread the ads out instead of plastering a solid week.
Advertising on Stuff would be another option too.
@Michael has a good point with the billstickers. However, I do think we need to push the point with NZBus. Getting celebrities in on the game would help too.
What about the South Island though? NZBus have the North Island buses tied up, but they don’t cover the South Island bus companies.
Actually, thinking about the banner ads on Stuff, how many of us have websites? I’d be happy to post the banner on a few of the sites I have.
March 24th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/FaceOff/
A debate of the Future of God between Michael Shermer, Sam Harris and Deepak Chopra and a woman who went to australia and saw Koala birds