"Absolute embarrassment": Police ad slammed
A Queensland Police advertisement campaign has been pulled just one hour it went live after it was slammed.
The advertisement was launched on Thursday to try to get people to stop calling Triple-0 unless it's an emergency and use other alternatives such as online reporting for less urgent issues.
#WATCH: The new police ad campaign that was ready for launch, until it was pulled at the last minute when senior officers stepped in.@TimArvier9 explains why. #9News pic.twitter.com/LK1b4gOsAz
— 9News Queensland (@9NewsQueensland) May 20, 2021
The advertisement shows a man called "Dan" who is the "world's worst decision-maker" and has examples such as eating expired sushi and having "three failed marriages".
Shadow Police Minister Dale Last told NCA NewsWire the advertisement is “an absolute embarrassment”.
“What a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he said.
The advertisement was also slammed as Dan's "three failed marriages" could be a link to domestic violence and the advertisement wasn't taking this issue seriously.
Queensland Police said in a statement that the advertisement will be re-edited after costing $40,000 to make.
“The decision to re-edit the video was taken as the QPS did not want a reference to failed marriages being misconstrued to suggest a link to domestic and family violence,” police said.
“There was no reference to domestic and family violence or a suggestion within the video that any of the failed marriages occurred due to domestic and family violence.”
The advertising campaign will be run at a later date.