Prince Philip is a grumpy old man and frequently the laughing stock of those who appreciate a tosser who’s always ‘two steps behind’.

But the man did have a point when he recently told of getting his grandchildren to programme his TV.

He apparently said: “To work out how to operate a TV set you practically have to make love to the thing. They put the TV controls on the bottom so you have to lie on the floor, and then if you wanted to record something the recorder was underneath, so you ended up lying on the floor with a torch in your teeth, a magnifying glass and an instruction book.”

The 88-year-old gent was laughed at by most media accounts I saw, but he was clearly lashing out at the design of modern televisions, claiming they are too hard to use.

We all know people who communicate so that no-one can understand what on earth they are saying. In individuals I’ve assumed it has something to do with the mixed-communicator’s perverse need to control relationships or attract attention to themselves, even if only for petty scorn. The mentality seems to be; if others are set up to fail because they’re confused, you can be the winner.

But why is it that so much commercial communication is incomprehensible – text in a brochure that’s eye-strain small or graphics that scramble the brain? And why is it almost impossible to tell the difference between the ‘shampoo’ and the ‘conditioner’ when standing in the shower with soap in your eyes?

I’m sure that the answer is not a perverse one. Communication that doesn’t communicate clearly is bad communication and it results from a lack of care and judgement.

Grumpy old men complain about nearly everything, but in this case, Prince Philip communicated with great clarity.

In a future post I’ll raise another issue on the subject of loony communication – billboards.

A great truism of life is that anyone can be a hypocrite…and we all are!

But I’m intrigued by the anonymous comments from those affronted by the Labour ads produced for the current campaign. Is it because they disagree with the messages? Probably, but in nearly all cases they’re attacked on the basis that they attack! Do you get the irony in that?

But I guess if I’m not inclined to rise to the bait on much of this, I certainly have an observation about where the world seems to be heading. I suspect that many people who spend all their time bombing blog posts are life’s ‘observers’, rather than ‘participants’.

Yes politicians can be boring and duplicitous, advertising can be staid or lacking cut-through, and it’s fair to offer criticism. But rare is the person who actually stands up to do things, who is prepared to put their name to it?

During this year’s Queens Birthday weekend (30 May to 1 June in Wellington) a remarkable event took place – Tribute08, a reunion and commemoration for Vietnam veterans and their families.  I was fortunate enough to be closely involved as the communications director for the event, but it is as an ordinary citizen of this country that there is much to note and appreciate. 

A draft strategy recently released by Tourism New Zealand seems to be in danger of presenting a redefinition of their own role as the ‘promoter of New Zealand to the world’s tourism market’ and, in the process, a redefinition of all our concepts of nationhood. 

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