So where the bloody hell are you?

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End of the So where the bloody hell are you? television commercial

So where the bloody hell are you? is a AU$180 million advertising campaign launched in 2006 by Tourism Australia created by the Sydney office of the London headquartered advertising agency M&C Saatchi.

The advertisements feature images of Australians preparing for visitors to their country. It begins in an Outback pub with the barkeeper saying, "We've poured you a beer." Further imagery to a similar effect is then shown, including a young boy on the beach saying, "We've got the sharks out of the pool," and partygoers watching Sydney harbour fireworks saying, "We've turned on the lights". The commercial ends with bikini-clad model Lara Bingle stepping out of the sea and asking, "So where the bloody hell are you?"

The campaign has received massive press coverage, and British prime minister Tony Blair even asked "Where the bloody hell am I?" when speaking to the Australian Parliament and suffering from jet lag. However, despite the press coverage, the campaign appears to be failing to attract tourists to Australia, with figures released in December 2006 showing a fall in tourists visiting Australia in markets where the campaign was run.

1 Controversy
2 Parodies and influences
- 2.1 Ashes version
3 Effectiveness of the campaign
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Controversy

The advertising campaign caused controversy in March 2006 when it was banned by the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre in the United Kingdom, which would not allow the word "bloody" to be used in television versions of the commercial. Following lobbying by Tourism Australia, including a visit to the UK by Australia's tourism minister Fran Bailey and Lara Bingle, the ban was subsequently lifted, although a 9pm "watershed" was imposed on television commercials in May.

In March 2007, however, the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK ordered the removal of roadside billboards bearing the slogan. The ASA stated that they had received 32 complaints about the advertising, and warned Tourism Australia to refrain from using swear words in future billboards. Tourism minister Fran Bailey responded:

"What an absolutely, incredibly ludicrous stance and a greater example of double standards you'd never find. Everyone is shaking their heads, especially as it's in a country where they allow the FCUK billboards... I mean what is it about our campaign that they find offensive? I just don't understand it."^[1]

The advertisement has also been banned by regulators in Canada, owing to the the implication of "unbranded alcohol consumption" by the opening line, "We've bought you a beer". There was also some concern in Canada at the word 'hell' being used as an expletive. It has been allowed to run with no adverse regulator action in several other countries such as the United States and New Zealand (although New Zealand operates upon complaints rather than banning advertisements before airing).

In Singapore, the advertisement campaign is presented as "So Where Are You?", with the words "bloody hell" removed.

[edit] Parodies and influences

Australian comedy writer Dan Ilic produced and released a parody of the ad towards the end of March 2006. The parody uses the structure of the Tourism Australia ad to make satirical reference to various current political controversies that might be of concern to potential tourists (eg. "We got you some free accommodation" over shots of the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre). The parody was the subject of controversy in its own right when Ilic removed the ad from his company's web-site because Tourism Australia's lawyers had threatened legal action claiming the music "was infringing their copyright." According to Ilic, however, Downwind Media "commissioned [their] own song that is different in tune and tempo." As of 28 March 2006 four "new special edition versions" of the parody were made available for download.

The Chaser's War on Everything released a similar version with the slogan "So get your fucking arse over here!" to parody a perceived Australian propensity for common vulgarity, and later took to the streets to see what tourists thought of similar campaigns which made extensive use of swearing.

The Coromandel region of New Zealand also released a parody with the words, "We're bloody well in the Coromandel."

Australian Financial Review columnist Peter Ruehl speculated how effective an advertising campaign promoting the United States would be if Australians were cajolled to get their 'cracker butts' over stateside.

Australian Internet Supplier iiNet has an advertisement for it's ADSL2+ service, asking "So where the bloodii hell are you?"[1]

At the 2006 Melbourne Comedy Gala, American comedian Arj Barker replied to the ad, saying, "Whoa! Take it easy Australia! I never even said I was going there man... Australia, have you been drinking? It's eleven in the morning!"

[edit] Ashes version

An advertisement was produced to promote the Nine Network's television coverage of the 2006-07 Ashes series, in the style of this ad but on a cricketing theme (eg 'We've rolled the ground, we've put in the stumps'). The next sentence parodied the beer quote from the original ad but this time referencing the supposed English predilection for warm beer ("we've warmed up the beer"), then "we've hidden the sunscreen, and we've brought you some soap", and finally the Australian captain descending the steps of a cricket ground stating "And we've been waiting all year" (ie to get the Ashes back).

This ad also culminates in a bikini-clad Bingle asking "So where the bloody hell are you?" - this time addressed to the English team and supporters, with Lara on the centre cricket pitch at the Sydney Cricket Ground, holding a cricket bat and wearing nothing but a green and gold bikini (based on the design of the one day International uniforms of the Australian cricket team), white shoes, and leg pads. A coda is then provided by Richie Benaud saying "Marvellous".^[2] ^[3]

After success by the England team early in the second test that year, one Australian paper ran the front-page headline "Australia - where the bloody hell are you?", in reference to this advert.

[edit] Effectiveness of the campaign

On December 6, 2006, News Limited newspapers around Australia drew attention to the campaign's shortcomings. The $A180 million campaign had hoped to attract visitors to Australian from Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom, but tourist figures show that during October 2006 the number of Japanese tourists visiting Australia fell by 5.7% in comparison with the same period in 2005. German tourists were down 4.7% and UK visitors dropped 2.3%, although there was a slight increase in tourists from the United States and the People's Republic of China. Critics argue that the expensive campaign has failed to deliver the promised increase in tourist numbers, with opposition tourism spokesperson Martin Ferguson saying "We've been told it was a huge success and generated all these hits on a website but the latest tourism figures show the numbers are down."[2]

In March 2007, however, The Age newspaper credited the ad with a $1.8 billion increase in tourism spending, and Tourism Australia stated that the primary goal of the campaign was to attract higher-spending, longer-staying visitors, not just to increase tourist numbers.^[4]