(Image: Uluru Dialogues)

The Yes campaign’s last-ditch pitch to convince Australians to vote for a Voice to Parliament starts with an unsolved mystery.

Released over the weekend, the Uluru Dialogue’s “You’re the Voice” referendum advertisement travels back in time with an opening shot of a vintage television showing black-and-white archival footage of the 1967 referendum with John Farnham’s song of the same name blaring over the top.

Keen-eyed viewers can spot a red-and-white anachronistic logo in the bottom-left corner of the footage. It belongs to the Australian Television Archive, an archival and video digitisation company run by James Paterson (not the Liberal senator).

Paterson places the logo on footage he uploads to the Australian Television Archive YouTube account as an advertisement for its work. Occasionally his logo also ends up on television as a tell-tale sign that a producer or editor has pinched his work without permission or paying for it. This ends up hurting the Australian Television Archive, which digitises content but doesn’t hold the license for it, as well as the content producer who loses out on royalties or licensing fees.

But, confusingly, this doesn’t explain the presence of Paterson’s logo on the Yes campaign’s video.

Paterson told Crikey that he places his logo on the right side, not the left as it appears in the advertisement. The Australian Television Archive logo featured in the advertisement is also a different version than what Paterson uses on his videos (it’s a version from his website). And, most confusingly of all, it’s not footage that Paterson has ever digitised.

“I feel like I’ve woken up in an alternative universe,” he said over the phone.

The advertising company behind the campaign, The Monkeys, responded to Crikey’s questions by saying that the inclusion of the Australian Television Archive’s logo was a mistake.

“This was not a deliberate passing off, and it would never be our intention to use someone’s logo without their permission,” the company said through a PR agency spokesperson. 

Paterson was also contacted by The Monkeys and is considering his options. He said he’s had multiple stoushes with Australian media companies over their use of footage that he’s digitised (but doesn’t hold the rights to) without permission. 

“The industry is very slack in taking my stuff. They underestimate me and what I do. Each time they take it, it’s a financial loss,” he said. 

This acknowledgement still doesn’t answer why the logo was mistakenly used. Oliver Lawrence, the managing director of the advertisement’s production company, Photoplay, said that he believed the footage in the advertisement was licensed from the ABC. Lisa Savage, the owner of Savage Media, which is listed as being responsible for archival footage used in the advertisement, said that she had signed a non-disclosure agreement and couldn’t answer questions. The ABC has been contacted for comment. 

Paterson is still puzzled as to why his logo was erroneously placed on someone else’s archival footage and said that he intends to find out as he negotiates with The Monkeys.

The Monkeys didn’t answer questions about how the error occurred.