Telstra and marriage equality: when the bandwagon loses a wheel

Telstra really does need to grow a set of balls.

Any brand that jumps on a band wagon then bails just as quickly, makes everybody wonder what you actually stand for.

Nothing against the church they’ve expressed the beliefs and even though I don’t agree with them, I do believe in their right to do so.

But shame on you Telstra. You look like the unpopular kid in the playground who’ll do whatever it takes to be seen one of the cool kids.

It appears your brand values are as crumbly and unreliable as your product and service.

This is awesome! Love this article. 🙂

I live in the bush. I have no choice on provider. It is Telstra or no communication! However I am damn cranky enough I would prefer to live in a non-communication bubble than be in cahoots with this sort of flip-flopping corporate strategy. Our area is reeling from multiple paedophilia cases all linked to the church… Yet Telstra chooses that over Equal Love. Bonkers.

It’s the Catholic Church that should be ashamed of itself. Bullying, self-serving & anachronistic.

Dan is the man. Thank you for this article.

“Telstra is the only major mobile provider that has jumped off the marriage equality bandwagon”. Although I was told by a staff member that they haven’t but to me it feels like they have.

Good on you Telstra, about time you see the light, may you did get lost and confused for a while. but glad you cam to your senses.
Thanks for this article which brought to my attention the ignorant companies supporting gay and lesbian marriage. looks like I’ll be changing banks now.

Yes, Telstra should rightly be smashed for their ridiculous stance. But the Catholic Church is the true villain here. If there was a god, he would be appalled at their behavior!!

Oh FFS, Telstra did not jump off the gay marriage bandwagon, there is no evidence that the carrier did anything of the sort. This was all sparked by a sensationalist beat-up article by The Australian, and now we have people expecting an early exit without penalty from their Telstra contacts because of this? Good luck to them but Telstra has no obligation to allow an early contract exit without penalty because nothing in their product offer has changed – not the price, not the coverage, not the speed, not any formerly free inclusions – anybody wanting an early exit from their Telstra contract on the spurious grounds of The Oz article should be made to pay the full payout fee.

Will be dumping #telstra now like the author stated and the fight for equality still stands. If Telstra fail to allow me to leave I’ll consider taking it to the anti discrimination board and TIO on the grounds that they we’re allowing the church group to leave while under contract but were bullied into it.

Such a beat-up of a story. Why should corporations pick a side on a debate like this, where their customers would hold a variety of views? The only bullies here are the gay-marriage advocates whose tolerance levels don’t extend to understanding that good people may quite reasonably hold varying views on this subject. I’m with Telstra on this one. There’s no reason at all for them to be involved in this debate. (Just concentrate on giving us better phone service…).

Brand Fail

Dan, good decision to leave based on the right beliefs.
But just checking.
I see Optus and Virgin on the newspaper ad, but no Vodafone, nothing on their website.
Did you jump onto the right horse?

And today Telstra are running Facebook ads with two men curled up in each others arms on the couch with their dog enjoying their Telstra internet.

This wouldn’t happen if Buckman was at the helm.
My Telstra mobile contract expires in 5 months. We have Telstra broadband installed in 3 houses. These contract expires in a year. Goodbye Telstra. Only with your network due to your “extensive national coverage” but Vodafone has made leaps and bounds in recent years so I am switching. Not supporting love between two consenting adults is the final straw. Plus, your recent outages prove your network is not as robust as it used to be.

@RightHorse…. I checked via the Australian Marriage Equality website, Telstra hasn’t asked to withdraw their logo from it. They have merely refused to participate in communicating their point of view moving forward. I have learned today that Amaysim also backs Marriage Equality.

Telstra’s statement is silly. They say they support Marriage Equality but say they won’t publicly participate in supporting it.

…so they agree with it, but they just won’t talk about it, because they want to support other “views” as well.

Riiiggghht. In this day and age I can’t even believe there is a marriage equality ‘debate’ – there shouldn’t be a debate and Telstra should not be supporting this debate. There is no other side to this, it is just about equal opportunity, if you don’t agree with it, don’t marry same sex yourself. We need big companies like Telstra to get a grip.

The only solution from here is for Telstra to say ‘Yep, we made a mistake. We will continue to actively campaign for Equality’. Blame it on human error…

I’m with Deb. This is a brand taking a position on a social discussion. What benefit is it to anyone whether Testra are for or against. Get on with helping Aussies communicate. I know a lot of ppl love their phone but Telstra is a public bloody company. It’s views on this matter are driven by profit. Not people, not love.

Has Telstra claimed that it opposed to gay marriage?

I do believe that a change of tack from pro, or even con, to no comment, is fair enough. Change is only change, it can only be change for the better, when it prove to be so.

I have no doubt that many people would agree that marriage equality is a good idea, and that it will surely be a change for the better, but pro change supporters have no right to lambast anyone for a no comment or a neutral stance on any issue which has not been decided.

Any issue will attract its supporters and its opposers, I see no harm in standing on a neutral point, it is, after all, the only place to stand , if you are undecided, and there ought to be no shame in that..

Having worked there once, I can say that Telstra has an excellent track record in the area of diversity and programs of work In the GLBTI space. I would argue that has great value. I am not as frustrated by their step back into the politically correct shadow as I am by brands run by marketing interns who plonk a couple of gay stereotype stock pics into their ads posing to care in the name of banking a quick “pink” buck. It takes more than a logo on a full page ad for AME to convince me that you care….

Telephony companies are for providing communications, not for participating in social debate.

Shame on Telstra for entering a social debate in the first place.

Not expecting this to be a popular thought on this forum, but really … phone companies, banks, car brands, etc entering social public debate.

Not their place I say.

I disagree @tv viewer…brands want to become more than just the products and services they provide – they want to mean something to people – to stand for something. To create an emotional connection.

Brands choose to stand for social issues like gender equality, positive body image, education, sustainability, innovation, health, cancer research, etc.

The public is now expecting brands to be involved with social issues and holding them accountable is a good thing – brands can do a lot of good.

Corporations are people remember? So Telstra is just another spineless person who alters their belief to suit vested interests.
Kind of like our Political system.

@silly. I understand what brands want to be … But I think it is all rhetoric. At the end of the day, they are businesses that live or die by the dollar. This case with Telstra is an example where a business will abandon the rhetoric of its brand to chase the dollar. I don’t it is selling out. I think it is going back to its core business and certainly doing the right thing by its shareholders (of which I am not one).

I’d like to see what the CEOs of all of the businesses who appear in the full page ad in the Oz would do if their position on a social issue resulted in a drop in revenue and profits. My issue is not with equality, it’s with businesses entering social debate and trying to get us to believe they actually care about anything more than their bottom line.

@hairy Pegasus. I think we are kidding ourselves if we think a business is a person and corporations are people. Rupert Murdoch would love for us all to see his Fox empire as a person … And would laugh at us while counting his profits.

@TV Viewer totally agree. Bloody stupid bandwagon riding at its most transparently awful worst.. do you hear me ANZ

@ Dan Ilic. I would be keen for your response to my post at 12.58am on 17 April about brands being businesses and not social advocated. Not to start a fight, just keen to hear your comment on those thoughts in view of your article.