I have to admit this is my third revision of this post.
Each previous revision was quite frankly too abusive towards the TV3 show Target that I ran the risk of legal action.
You may not have read the articles published on NZ Herald and Stuff web sites in the weekend regarding Cafe Cezanne and the poor café owners terror of nearly losing their business to what appears to be gross incompetency and lack of internal processes on the part of “Target”.
I have never watched the show “Target” and now, after reading about the massive lack any internal processes to double check their facts I will recommend no one watch them.
Everyone in the real world knows how incredibly hard it is to not only start a business but keep it in the black. It takes years and years of hard work and dedication to make it work. Only a business owner knows of sleepiness nights, long hours and zero cash flow.
Then along comes some show called “Target” and it a matter of minutes puts all that hard work at risk.
How can a production with a budget that most small businesses only dream about cause such destruction and then get away with it by issuing a silly apology? I would assume that the editors or whoever approved the release of that episode have never owned a business before. They nestle in the lap of employee status where everything is okay and their wages are in their bank accounts on time.
I have talked to few people today about Cafe Cezanne and all state what a wonderful café it is.
In order to help Cafe Cezanne I have done the following and I hope you can help somehow as well:
- Wrote this blog post and published it on a business focused web site.
- Posted it on our Twitter profile with over 4000 followers mostly of which are NZ based.
- Posted a link to the NZ Herald article on another NZ based discussion forum that is frequented by many NZ journalists.
- Posted a question to the TV3 Twitter profile asking them why “Target” is still on air.
- Posted a link to this blog post on my Facebook and LinkedIn profiles.
- Rung the owners up to provide my support. (If I lived in Auckland I would also be having lunch there today).
We are currently in the worst recession for the last 6 decades and therefore cannot let a silly TV show that displays a lack of incompetency that brings me to my knees still be on air!
Do what you can – ring the Cafe Cezanne owners to voice your support, go to the café for lunch, ring Tv3 and demand they take the show off the air. Anything to help these business owners out!
Links:
NZ Herald Article – click here..
Stuff Article – click here…
My Post to a major NZ Forum – click here..
Our Twitter Profile Spreading the message – click here and here..
Contact Cafe Cezanne owners and give them support!
Why not contact Laurie Clarke, Executive Producer of Top Shelf and ask her why this farce was allowed to occur – media release and her contact details here
More comments on another blog – click here
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Have you really thought this through? After years (I think 10) of Target and hundreds of episodes that help people save money… One employee makes a mistake and you want all the people who work on target to lose their jobs?
I’m guessing that Cafe Cezanne has had so much free press that this mistake has most likely kept their business in business.
The girl who made the mistake has been fired and by all accounts is near suicidal.
Good job.
Jess
Hello Jess,
Thanks for your reply. I would love for the managers who are responsible for the lack of double checking of results to be fired and hopefully sued not the employee who was allowed to make the mistake. Most business owners know that if you do not have the right systems and processes in place to capture human error then it will happen. The total lack of double checking of the results is at fault here not the poor employee. The cafe owners might have taken years to build up their following all to be risked by the – dear I say it – total lack of caring by the managers of the show for the massive impact their results would have on the businesses concerned.
Put it this way. If I had won the 37 million I would have funded the legal take down of all managers concerned.
Umm I think an ‘over-kill’ response Marc – though I say that only because Cafe Cezanne seem to benefited from it with more support etc and therefore their business may in fact be ’stronger’ now as a result.
If the opposite had occurred to them then I think Target/TV3 would have some grovelling to do to rectify the situation.
From what I understand TV3 elected to air the episode even though they were informed it was factually incorrect. So that’s where the fault lies I feel….or maybe I have got it wrong?
I agree – sue Target and sue TV3. Its a stupid brainless show for the stupid brainless masses.
In my opinion, Target is a powerful medium and it should be more responsible for this power. If it knew facts were incorrect and then still aired the programme, that is gross negligence. However, I do also agree that Target probably has had some use in exposing scams etc too, so there has to be a balance.
In summary, Target proves the point that TV is a very powerful medium that people believe. Cafe Cezanne should demand free advertising from TV3 – perhaps 20 free 20 sec spots would do it?
Save the legals….
I often wonder what the carnage will look like when someone gets it wrong – now I know! I agree with Donna and Jessica, though, that the publicity has probably been good for the cafe, although as a former Auckland-dweller and Ponsonby worker I used to visit Cezanne occasionally and found it quite scruffy. I guess that’s the bohemian ambience!
I watch Target now and then and often wonder, too, how they get away with their surveillance methods – there must be a privacy issue there somewhere, surely.
Interesting post Marc.
Two of my clients appeared on Target within a month of each other. Knowing they were to appear caused a huge amount of stress for each of them.
As it happens each did a great job and was recommended by the program. Having said that each took exception with the editing and the expert who critiqued their work.
Target has always been a poor man’s Fair Go. It’s an awful show with horrible hosts and a lame sense of humour.