The power of Canberra has been felt by the ACT Government. When the slogan Feel the Power of Canberra was put on ACT number plates, the Government offered a choice of having the slogan or not, as it did when the previous slogan was introduced, Canberra the Nation’s Capital. Both slogans, however, were the default position. You had to deliberately opt for no slogan. That is until car dealers, individuals presented with the Feel the Power plates, and the community at large expressed their resentment. Then Motor Registry asked every customer.
The difference between the two slogans has been instructive. The Nation’s Capital slogan was popular. As the series was coming to its end at YZZ-999 after starting at YMA-000 there were thousands of spare positions left between YJA and YLA which had been reserved for people who did not want the Nation’s Capital slogan. Not many had rejected a perfectly expressive slogan.
In the case of Feel the Power, however, 70 per cent rejected the slogan, preferring nothing instead. They thought it arrogant. They feared what other Australians would think if they took their cars interstate. Only 30 per cent were prepared to take the slogan. That is a hopelessly low percentage for a slogan which is supposed to represent the ACT and its people. Such a slogan should be unifying and accepted by a vast majority if it is to fulfil its role. It should be a statement of pride, not shame.
The Government has argued that the slogan is not for Canberrans, but to be received by people outside Canberra as a tool for marketing Canberra. There is a point to that, but if it receives comprehensive rejection by people within the ACT, who are after all Australians too, it is not likely to be successful in the rest of Australia.
The Government argues that it is not using the slogan to market Canberra as a seat of power, but as a statement expressing Canberra as a powerful centre of sport, culture and natural beauty. Well, that may work for some people, but the evidence suggests not many. Perhaps the slogan is too American, too pushy for Australian tastes. Canberrans want the ACT Government to market the territory and want Canberra’s image to improve in the rest of Australia so that Australians are proud of their national capital, visit it, and see it as theirs, not as a city of politicians exercising power.
The Government has now commissioned an opinion poll to see if Canberrans want a new number-plate slogan. Perhaps a poll is unnecessary; Canberrans have already voted with their feet. A competition might be more fruitful. Several good slogans are more likely to come from a competition than from the responses given in an opinion poll, which of necessity must be random. The options should be given a thorough public airing before one is selected. Or perhaps motorists could be given a choice of several slogans.
The question then remains whether the slogan should be kept for use in general promotional campaigns for Canberra.
The Government has agreed to review that. Perhaps that will be a step in a gradual retreat.
Canberra has so much to offer Australia. Many Australians are not aware of how much. It is in the interests of Canberrans and this region to make more Australians aware. On that score the Government is right to spend money on promotion, but it should ensure that it does so in a way that the key ambassadors for the ACT, the residents themselves, enthusiastically embrace. At present there is only very limited enthusiasm. Those that like it and think it will be effective outside Canberra now have to weigh their enthusiasm against the obvious discomfort of the many who feel they might have to apologise for the slogan when they go interstate instead of selling Canberra.