The government allocated $7.8m to its “Respect Matters” initiative, then spent $3.8m of that on producing a Milkshake Video which confused people, then was quickly pulled. Another waste of taxpayers’ money by the LNP.
The milkshake video – in which a young woman smears a milkshake over her partner’s face without his permission – was one of two videos designed to explain consent that were pulled from The Good Society website earlier this year.
The resource faced backlash from rape prevention advocates, women’s rights groups and politicians for its simplistic and often confusing messaging around sex and consent.
Headlines such as ‘Bizarre’ government consent education videos featuring milkshakes, tacos slammed’ and, ‘Federal Government’s bizarre ‘milkshake’ consent video slammed by gender equality advocates’ ran across mainstream media as soon as the content was made public.
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell described the $7.8 million ‘Respect Matters’ campaign – which uses examples related to tacos, milkshakes and going for a swim to talk about consent – as “pretty woeful”. Victoria’s James Merlino branded the videos “cringeworthy” and “confusing”.
All this from #ScottyFromMarketing (Probably explains why he got fired from this last two marketing jobs)
Further reading
Video: https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2021/apr/23/how-the-story-unfolded-australias-bizarre-milkshake-consent-video-controversy-video-wrap
https://mumbrella.com.au/department-of-educations-3-8m-milkshake-videos-one-big-pr-mess-678827
