Patriotic Marketing: An Australian Case Example

Attached is the case study, 'Patriotic Marketing: An Australian Case Example; that we have to refer to within our response. 

Australian ownership of business simply jingoism?’ The copy of the ad reads:

‘Newspaper journalist, Dennis Shanahan, has been running a campaign against Dick Smith Foods,

claiming that it is “feeding paranoia” and “jingoism” to promote the advantages of Australian

owned businesses.

‘At the same time Mr Shanahan pushes the advantages of ‘Australian Made’ especially when

promoted by foreign companies.

‘The reason for this hypocrisy is obvious to most Aussies. The big foreign companies that exploit

the “Australian Made” logo have enormous advertising clout in the press. Patriotic Australians are

not stupid—we know that while “Australian made” is good “Australian owned and made” is even

better as the profits stay here creating wealth and a better future for our children and

grandchildren.’

Do you think Dick Smith is hypocritical in making use of his image of patriotism to brand his

products and increase sales, and denigrate his competitors that are predominately foreign

owned? Some critics labelled Dick Smith’s new adventure as ‘nothing more than a money-making

scheme’. What do you think?