We all met South Aussie Ray Johnstone, 75, when his Gumtree ad for a fishing buddy went viral a few weeks ago.
Ray was swamped with offers, including an all expenses fishing trip to QLD — which has now become the source a debate over whether Ray’s been taken advantage of.
In a sceptical opinion piece published on news.com.au, Dom Knight suggested Mati Batsinilas, the 22-year-old who took Ray out had ulterior motives.
“I’ve got to say — when I go out fishing with friends, there generally aren’t news cameras in attendance, and my ‘friends’ aren’t draped with logos advertising their business,” Dom wrote.
“Maybe that’s too cynical… But this kind of thing happens so often that readers could be forgiven for becoming cynical.
“Smart companies now don’t just buy traditional ads, they create events, content and ‘moments’ to try and interest consumers.”
Dom said he hoped Ray could “find a fishing mate based near his home in South Australia, who’ll take him out without a camera crew”.
It has also emerged that a PR exec contacted media after Ray’s initial ad went viral and offered to put them in touch with Mr Batsinilas.
But Mr Batsinilas insisted he was a genuine friend of Ray’s…
“I haven’t tried to get publicity out of this, it has just happened,” he told news.com.au.
“100 per cent we are mates, we have selfies together and that’s your friend,” he said.
“We have organised to go to South Australia. I have already invited him back up here.”
Ray definitely thinks the friendship is legit:
“It was a very good trip, they are a very nice family and they actually said to me they regarded me as one of their family,” he said.
“He’s getting in a bit of strife today but I’d like to say this: he’s not a charter company but he’s got his own private fishing boat and him and his brother were generous in taking us out on the boat.”
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