TV ad criticised for similarity to 2007 version, with health academic arguing ‘running the same campaign over and over again ... doesn’t work’

The Abbott government has remade a graphic 2007 TV advertising campaign designed to combat the drug ice because research had shown it was successful when it aired eight years ago.

A spokesman for the assistant minister for health, Fiona Nash, defended the remake of the old ad several years later.

“Running the same campaign over and over again, which we know from research doesn’t work, seems like a strange thing to do,” health academic Ross Gordon told the ABC.

But the government insists its internal confidential research showed the campaign was very successful.

Guardian Australia understands the three ads were re-shot for under $1m and an additional $10m will be spent on a four-week TV campaign and a six-week online campaign.

The commercials are part of the governments concerted attack on the scourge of ice which the Australian Crime Commission says poses the highest risk of all illicit drugs. Government figures show ice use rates have almost doubled in the last 12 months.

The three television commercials show how ice is wreaking havoc on Australian families and the community, including medical workers, and is aimed at educating the community about the dangers of crystal methamphetamine.

“As an emergency doctor, I’ve seen how ice is destroying lives,” Sunshine Coast doctor Stephen Priestly says in one scene. “People suffering psychotic reactions ... it’s terrible for them and the people around them.”

When the $11m campaign was launched 10 days ago by Nash, she called it a “hard-hitting new advertising campaign”.

“We need to get the message to young people and parents that this drug is extremely addictive and destroys lives and families,” Nash said.

When the 2015 ads are run side by side with the 2007 ones the scenes and the scripts are almost identical.

The government admits the commercials are remakes of the original ice campaign which ran between 2007 and 2009 and was discontinued six years ago by Labor.

A spokesman for Nash told Guardian Australia the minister had not tried to hide the fact they were remade.

“Health department research showed it was a very effective ad campaign,” the spokesman said.

Tony Abbott to establish national drug taskforce to tackle ice 'scourge' Read more

The campaign will feed into the National Ice Taskforce, announced by the prime minister in April.

The advertising campaign is supposed to encourage people to provide feedback to the National Ice Taskforce.

The awareness campaign approach by the government has already been criticised by the head of alcohol and other drug research at the Centre for Population Health, Paul Dietze.

“International evidence suggests such ‘awareness’ campaigns are not the most appropriate way to address harmful methamphetamine use,” Dietze wrote in the Conversation.

“In fact, fear-based approaches can increase stigma which possibly drives people away from, rather than towards, treatment.”