Fathers And Mothers Matter, Respect And Understanding Not So Much

We are in the last week of the referendum campaign debating the addition of a new sub-section to Bunreacht na hÉireann defining marriage as a gender-neutral institution. In other words, permitting hetero- and homosexual marriages under the Irish constitution (with specific legislation to follow). For the last 48 hours the moronically-named grouping “Mothers and Fathers Matter” has been running a professional-looking advertising campaign on YouTube opposing the constitutional change, generally placing it’s videos in two locations that are regarded as prime territory for YouTube advertisers. The first of these is the “In-search” spot – an ad that shows above YouTube search results at a cost of roughly $0.10 per-viewing – while the second fills the “In-stream” area – an ad that plays before one can watch a video, normally charging up to $0.30 or more per-viewing (though how soon viewers can “skip” the advertisement factors into payments too).

If a campaign was to purchase 50,000 “In-stream” shows of its advertising message for Irish YouTube users, a not unreasonable figure for a period of 72 hours, it would need to pay out some $15,000 to Google. That is quite aside from the production costs of the video advertisement itself, perhaps another $25,000 if sourced from a commercial company here in Ireland. For the “No” campaign in general, which claims its members are fighting the national debate on a shoestring budget, that is a lot of money, even if the estimates are not exact.

Though perhaps the exchange rate from dollars to euros helps… Ahem…