Australia welcomes priceless publicity

Australia's "controversial" new tourism campaign will not be shown in full on British screens.

Advertising regulators have ruled that the word "bloody" must be cut from the slogan "where the bloody hell are you?"

Tourism Australia adopted the direct promotional approach in a bid to show the true "personality" of Australia, however the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) has deemed Australia a little too brash for mainstream television.

It will, however, continue to appear in print, online and in cinema ads.

Fran Bailey, Australian minister for small business and tourism, accused the regulators of being out of step with the British sense of humour.

"The regulator is out of touch with British opinion – based on our research and the initial feedback, the British are loving our cheeky sense of humour," she said.

"The regulators have clearly misplaced their sense of humour – and this from the country that brought us Benny Hill, Two Ronnies and Little Britain."

Tourism officials spent AU$6 million researching the campaign's likely reception in Britain, with the findings suggesting that Britons would not take great offence.

However, Ms Bailey suggested that the BACC's decision had inadvertently benefitted the campaign, describing the publicity as "priceless".

Posted by Just the Flight, 08 March 2006 09:56

News tags