This has been discussed on the blogosphere for quite some time, but not in a negative sense: Australia’s latest tourism campaign. Some folks like the TVC, and the tagline, ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’: This Blog Sits at the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics wrote on March 10, ‘Australians have so perfected the art of bonhomie that they can trade in frankness without being rude.’
   I’ve been enjoying the campaign for all the wrong reasons for the last couple of weeks (young Australian models) but it reminds me of the good times and the friends I have there. And in terms of nation branding, it is not unreasonable: it presents a positive face that a tourist will find reasonably realistic, and it underlines a sense of freedom and liberty that the antipodes are known for. It connects to the Australian idea of frankness and the campaign has a nice sense of irony and understatement—something else antipodeans do well without being falsely humble. And it makes me, as I write this, very grateful that down here, we have true freedom of speech (perhaps unlike Virginia Beach, where the photograph below left was taken).
   And even Markoos over in Queensland likes it: ‘Tourism Australia launched it’s bloody good new campaign to much fanfare (see the tv ad here). It’s a bloody good ad that presents the aussie people as warm inviting people who are laid back bloody and inviting’ (sic).
   Having just posted on my standards of cussing, I never thought of this commercial as being rude. But the Brits do: they think bloody is a curse word and the young lady the end has had to make do with the missing word. I believe she is dubbed now, but frankly, I wasn’t listening. How could I be? She is very, very attractive.
   I would like to say for humorous effect, ‘Wake up, Brits! She’s prettier and less common than Denise van Outen,’ but I have to bite my tongue. For one, I still hold a Pommy passport (dual nationality). And secondly, isn’t the root of this the same misunderstanding as behind the whole Mohammed cartoon thing? You think it’s wrong, and I don’t.
   And the Australian tourism board simply said, ‘We understand the Brits. We’ll alter the ad,’ instead of persisting with it and pissing people off.
   Apparently the objection to the word is Victorian, according to National Radio here. There is no etymological connection to the blood of Christ. Instead, it may be literal, or it is connected to aristocrats (the ‘blue bloods’) and negative antics prescribed to them.
   The Aussies are taking it in their stride. Their research showed the Brits liked the campaign and weren’t offended, even though evidence from the regulatory authorities there disagreed. They are welcoming it as a PR dream come true: the news coverage of the change—and the fact that www.wherethebloodyhellareyou.com remains a destination for everyone—has propelled this A$100 million-plus campaign into the limelight. Before the launch of the campaign in the UK, Brits had already downloaded the commercial 30,000 times (on March 9).
   Watch the commercial here and if you are a young bloke like me, tell me you heard what she said. She could have well been saying, ‘Oy, you bloody perv, my face is up here,’ and you wouldn’t even know it.

Del.icio.us tags: nation branding | Australia | freedom | frankness | liberty | tourism | destination marketing | Australian Posted by Jack Yan, 05:32  permalink

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