An Apology To Mr Graeme Wood

IT IS NEVER easy to express remorse, but an apology is certainly owed to Global Mail patron and online travel tycoon Graeme Wood, whose Wotif booking service was mentioned below for producing an ad featuring the torture of squid.  There was the reek of hypocrisy about the ad, that ill-considered post asserted, as Wood is a keen and generous supporter of the Greens, whose advocacy of animal rights and vegetarian patties is no secret.  How could such a high-minded fellow put to air an ad that mined cash from cruelty?

It has become clear that post should never have been written, that Graeme Wood adheres to a code of consistent principles, and that it was the Professor’s mistake to think otherwise.

Yes, the squid did not appear to enjoy being chewed upon, but it is now apparent  their pain was of no consequence when examined from the high ground of the Greens’ broader and loftier  perspectives. The revelation came in Wotif’s defence before the Advertising Standards Bureau, which received numerous complaints about the promotion. That cruelty needed to be ignored, Wotif asserted, because the ad actually celebrated the much more important goal of fostering and accepting cultural diversity.

There is no way a humble Bunyip’s paraphrase can do justice to Wotif’s argument, so readers should read the relevant passages for themselves -- especially those readers who are contemplating taking their travel business to companies other than Wotif.com:

… it is important to note the creative intention of the advertisement, namely to highlight examples of unheard of or otherwise off-beat and far-flung travel destinations where certain human behaviour, cultural practices and favourite past-times may differ vastly from what many Australians might consider acceptable or normal …

… the Wotif.com TVC is set in a fictional, small rural community somewhere nondescript and depicts what appears to be a long-running and very popular form of entertainment for that community, namely ‘squid bobbing’, as part of the town’s annual squid festival…

… We acknowledge that some people, including the complainants in this case, may object to the practice of ‘squid bobbing’ because they believe it is cruel to the squid. However, the same could be said by outside observers in relation to numerous cultural practices and past-times all over the world (including Australia) which are nevertheless considered normal and lawful within the relevant culture. For example, many people vehemently object to the running of the bulls in Pamplona, however this activity continues to be an important and popular cultural event in Spain …

Well that did it for the Professor, whose limited imagination, inability to perceive nuance and absolutist frame of mind would never, ever have considered the mistreatment of cattle in Spain to be an iron-bound justification for the mistreatment of fish in Australia.

But you live and learn. Wotif and Mr Wood have the Billabong’s full apology – and, as a token of remorse, the offer of a contribution toward his friends' travel expenses should Bob Brown, Christine Milne and Adam Runt decide to celebrate cultural diversity by setting to sea with a Japanese whaler, clubbing a baby seal with the Inuit or, and this would make a great holiday destination, cheering the action in an Indonesian abattoir.