The Melbourne City Council has come under fire for spending $1.5 million on its video ad campaign for The Land of Inbetween.
The videos show alternative, urban professionals being hypnotised so they can really head out to Melbourne’s streets and have a bit of an explore.
https://youtu.be/S8-nx2yYNJM
The main campaign video, on last check, has had 971 views on the YouTube page.
However, News Corp has reported that the campaign has been reprimanded for its massive cost blowouts.
According to the Herald Sun, the hypnotist was flown in from Europe, costing $20,000, with the rest of the money spent on advertising and production.
The campaign also initially had to be sent back to agency DDB for re-editing and tweaking.
The City of Melbourne says it has reached more than 50,000 people since launching, reported the Herald Sun, however one councillor Richard Foster said he couldn’t see the value for Melbourne in the campaign.
“Hypnotising hipsters may seem like an amusing thing to do, but it’s not when ratepayers’ money is used to pay for the experience,” he said. “I really don’t think we need hypnosis, acupuncture or ozone therapy to attract people to Melbourne.”
