TODAY’S PAPERS: Sport & Style – nothing to scare the advertisers; Banks steer round the ATM PR trap; Silence from the Bonds spruikers

Tim Burrowes

March 5, 2009 6:38

Sydney Morning Herald

Australia’s banks may actually be on the right side of a PR issue for once, reports Maria Nguyen. She flags up the changes to ATM regulations which potentially mean more charges for customers. But Commonwealth Bank and the ANZ have already signalled their intentions not to impose charges that could risk being labelled as gouging.

A corporate behemoth that’s been less sure-footed in its PR though is Bonds, writes Julian Lee. He highlights the silence of the brand’s ambassadors Sarah Murdoch, Pat Rafter and Michael Clarke since the furore broke over its plans to move all of its manufacturing offshore. Pragmatically, he points out:

“All they will have to do is sit and wait for the short-term collective memory of Australians to take hold, as it inevitably will. After all, if that has served Vegemite, Holden and Arnott’s – all of which are in the hands of foreign owners – then why not Bonds?”

Subscribe to keep reading

Join Mumbrella Pro to access the Mumbrella archive and read our premium analysis of everything under the media and marketing umbrella.

Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.