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Censored: in the UK the ads will only be shown in cinemas |
Following in the footsteps of the mind-blastingly brilliant ‘Hoges‘ ads in the 1980s (some of you may remember the tv and cinema ads where he threw shrimps on barbies, went fishing with rope and anchor, got offended when one of the Beefeaters at the Bloody Tower swore at him and complained that London was guilty of gross plagiarism and a lack of imagination by naming many of its streets after the board game ‘Monopoly’), the latest “Where the bloody hell are you?” ad campaign is ‘going gangbusters’, as we say here in the Antipodes.
Based on a phrase used quite commonly, even amongst the literati (although they will deny it), it has so far enthralled and outraged so many of the overseas populace that we could face the same sort of 40% increase in tourism that the Hoges ads created in the 80s.
Kare Anderson, of ’sayitbetterkare’fame, pointed me to a post on her ‘Sausalito by the bay’ blog (note to myself: ’sausalito’ is not a sausage with a little sauce on it) talking about the storm the ad has successfully whipped up.
Even our ABC is amused by it all, as are the pollies (‘politicians’ for non-Australians):
“Federal Tourism Minister Fran Bailey says the regulators are being precious.”
It’s amusing really, seeing as how the same country that gave the world ‘Benny Hill‘, ‘the Two Ronnies‘, ‘Alf Garnett‘, ‘The Young Ones‘ (which turned the word ‘bastard’ into household usage in England) and ‘Ali G‘ has suddenly come over all school-boyish about the word ‘bloody’. I even remember that Dennis, a dim-witted character in the seminal 1970s comedy ‘Please Sir‘ used the word as the highest form of swear word he knew:
“You old, old… bloody, you!”
You can watch the ad yourself, streaming version only I’m afraid, on the campaign website.
But if you want to see an advert that brings patriotic tears to my eyes every time I replay it, here’s an ad that Aussie beer brewer Fosters created for the domestic market around the time of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. Yes, you can download it [2.2mb]. It’s a .mov so you might need Quicktime to view it.
Technorati: where the bloody hell are you?, word of mouth marketing, Australia,
Oh, and for those who wish to delve deep into the psyche of the bloggers they read, you can always download this video interview [4.4mb] with a former fiancee. Which is why I moved back to Australia. And changed my name. And shaved my head…
101 ways to power-up your writing.
