The man who directs the face and voice of Coles must have become a little overconfident. In a breathtaking display of arrogance, Coles’ general manager of corporate affairs, Robert Hadler, addressed an audience of spin doctors with this presentation: http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/800088-reputation-coles.html#document/p5

Plenty of people have discussed why this presentation was in such bad taste. Callous, even.

But the part that really caught my attention was the role of our co-op, Murray Goulburn, in Hadler’s “case study”. The gloating Hadler describes the deal with Murray Goulburn as “The game changer”.

Hadler’s right about this but not in the way he means, I suspect. The Hadler case study goes to show just one thing: no matter how Coles tried to spin $1 milk, Australians knew it stank and none of their ads, infographics or appearances by Curtis Stone could fix it. Until, finally, Coles actually did something to address the damage caused by the milk war: an unprecedented 10-year deal that was too good for the co-op to refuse.

Now that’s not a case study in spin, Mr Hadler, that’s a case study in people power.

PS: If you would like to keep up the pressure for Coles to do the right thing, add your voice to this petition by Queensland ag teacher, Lisa Claessen, who was compelled act after her students became casualties of the ColesWorths milk war.