Phone book flop
You’ve got to hand it to Telstra and its phone book subsidiary, Sensis, for subtly demeaning the indispensable White Pages every year.
This year’s book was delivered recently and is simply an advertising document with useful information buried inside.
It’s now entrenched that the White Pages are at the back. The commercial Yellow Pages are at the front.
Last year I managed to adjust; however this year the covers are indistinguishable.
The main cover shows both Yellow and White Pages, so you don’t know if you’re at the front or back. The situation is confused because when you go to the “back” (where the Yellow Pages used to be), there’s a full-page ad for Sensis in a yellow border, but that’s where the White Pages actually are.
I haven’t seen the Melbourne phone books yet, but normally there are separate editions for White and Yellow Pages given the sheer volume of numbers.
If that continues to be the case, country people are being singled out for unfair advertising promotion. We’re the suckers who have to weigh through ads before we get information that we need.
Advertising has also infiltrated the White Pages, with more use of color and bold entries. It’s nostalgic to remember that a phone book used to be a phone book.
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