A NEW promotional DVD Wagga Wagga Twice as Good has split community opinion after it was launched at Wagga’s Civic Theatre on Saturday night.
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The DVD, based on the format of Qantas’ highly successful I Still Call Australia Home commercials, is a compilation of 65 scenes showcasing educational, business and recreational opportunities in the city accompanied by the voices of the Wagga City Rugby Male Choir and Murrumbidgee Magic.
With a total running time of four minutes and 20 seconds, the DVD was designed to be uploaded to YouTube, where it was expected to go viral and attract skilled professionals and new investment to the city.
However, The Daily Advertiser posted the DVD to its website to an almost immediate backlash of highly critical comments with ‘Kate’ posting “This one would go straight to the cutting room floor”, ‘Ryanno’ posting “Makes Wagga look like a big retirement village if you ask me” and ‘Bob’ posting “It works well if they are trying to promote Wagga as the city of the living dead...”.
The backlash continued with viewers labelling the DVD “boring”, “monotone”, “dull”, even prompting one viewer to produce an alternate version of their own.
Creator and producer of the DVD Greg Conkey said yesterday he supported his project and maintained that the DVD showcased a diverse and vibrant city.
“We’ve had constructive criticism but overwhelmingly we’ve had a positive response,” he said.
“I think the DVD is modern and shows off what Wagga has to offer for businesses and prospective residents, which was always our intention.”
Musical director for the project Judy Ferguson said she thought the criticism was unfair given the target audience for the DVD.
“What would suit a 15 to 18-year-old isn’t necessarily going to reflect the broader community,” she said.
“We couldn’t have had the choir singing a top 40 pop song or something cutting edge.
“We are in Australia and we needed to have a soundtrack that reflected rural Australia and Wagga as a whole.”
On the criticism the DVD received, Ms Ferguson said it was difficult to please everyone.
“It’s easy to be a knocker,” she said.
