# Visit Australia - Where the Bloody Hell Are You?



## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Australian tourism ministry swears by its new ad *
Irreverent campaign raises 'bloody hell' in some countries 
By Bruce Stanley
10 March 2006
The Wall Street Journal Asia

HOW DO YOU advertise a country? 

As ever more nations market their charms to the globe-trotting tourist, their international ad campaigns sound surprisingly, and blandly, similar. Now, amid invitations to visit destinations that are exotic, unique and incredible comes a curveball from Down Under: "So Where the Bloody Hell Are You?" 

Australia's tourism ministry plans to spend the equivalent of $135 million over the next 2 1/2 years promoting the fresh tag line, in commercials set to start airing next week on major U.S. television networks. The slogan's introduction in Australia and New Zealand has elicited strong opinions, with critics calling it a profane turnoff. 

The brash motto's advocates say they are targeting educated, adventurous tourists who get that the line is a play on the widely held view of Australians as friendly and unpretentious. Tourism Australia, the national agency responsible for the promotion, has tested the line on 47,000 people in seven countries and says the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Even Australian Prime Minister John Howard has weighed in, declaring the slogan very effective and "anything but offensive." 

Suggestive or in-your-face slogans have broken out before: Indeed amid all the "Incredible India"s and "I Love New York"s, the most memorable such messages are often of this ilk. Las Vegas has "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas." Years ago the successful slogan "Virginia is for Lovers" was racy for its time. 

Backers of Australia's slogan reckon it could give the country's tourism industry its biggest lift since actor Paul Hogan, aka Crocodile Dundee, offered to throw another shrimp on the barbie for visitors in a 1984 campaign. Still, Tourism Australia has had to tone down its new message in at least two markets. Advertising regulators in Britain, where the campaign will roll out next week, have banned the word "bloody" from the television ads in that country -- a decision Australian Tourism Minister Fran Bailey described Thursday as "comical," as the original ad will appear uncut in British cinemas, in newspapers and online. Nor will the "bloody hell" TV ads air in prudish Singapore. 

The tag line, created by Sydney ad agency M&C Saatchi, underscores the challenge for any tourist destination trying to distinguish itself among scores of rivals targeting the same audience. Asia has proven particularly fertile ground for national tourism campaigns. In addition to "Incredible India," the region's slogans include "Uniquely Singapore"; "Malaysia, Truly Asia" and "WOW Philippines!" 

"There is nothing that truly stands out," says Michael Ip, managing director in the Asian-Pacific region for brand consulting firm Landor Associates. 

Mr. Ip also questions the slogans' credibility. "How many people can actually say getting through Mumbai Airport is an incredible experience?" he says. "And I can't really say that the traffic in Manila wows me very much. Or that there is anything terribly unique about Singapore." 

Ethnic violence at a Sydney beach suburb in December may have tarnished Australia's reputation, at least temporarily. Even the best marketing effort can unravel because of political unrest, rampant crime or disease. A grim case in point: the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome that brought Hong Kong's economy to a virtual standstill in 2003. The deadly SARS virus, which caused fever and respiratory distress, struck after the city had launched a tourism campaign under the slogan, "Hong Kong Will Take Your Breath Away." 

Just as with cars, cereal or any packaged product, the marketing pitch for a country needs a specific target audience, and many efforts have foundered for lack of focus. The Philippines has rebranded itself many times over the past 30 years, with slogans ranging from "Pride of the Orient" to "Fiesta Islands" to "Philippines: The last bargain in Asia." Its current slogan, "WOW Philippines!," was intended as much to instill national pride as to attract overseas visitors. 

It's all the more impressive, then, when a place gets it right. When tourism officials in India launched their first international promotion, in 2003, they pitched a kaleidoscope of experiences including yoga, wildlife and festivals. Today, with billboards in New York's Times Square and commercials on CNN, the "Incredible India" campaign is regarded as a great success -- despite Mr. Ip's complaint. Its promoters say it contributed to an increase of 25% in foreign tourist arrivals in 2004. 

As many as 10 ad agencies have worked on the Indian campaign, but some countries can't afford outside help. Tourism officials in Bangladesh, inspired by India's breakthrough, dropped the decades-old tag line "Visit Bangladesh Before the Tourists Come" in 2004. Now they are promoting their latest homemade effort, "Bangladesh -- Beautiful Surprise," with an ad budget of just $71,000. "Until and unless we have an aggressive marketing plan, the slogan doesn't really matter," says Mahfuzul Haque, chairman of the Bangladesh Tourism Organization. 

High-school students in Uganda helped choose the African country's first slogan, "Gifted by Nature." Tourism officials are trying to rescue a cash-starved ad campaign by outsourcing it to a private consortium. 

With countries retooling their messages more frequently, Tourism Australia felt it needed to spice up it own efforts to "cut through the clutter," a spokesman for the tourism agency says. Its old slogan, "See Australia in a Different Light," wasn't doing the trick, so it spent $4.6 million to hire M&C Saatchi to conduct focus groups for six months. 

"What we found from a massive research campaign is that people like Australia not so much for Australia but for Australians," says Tom McFarlane, M&C Saatchi's regional creative director in Sydney. He settled on the "bloody hell" tagline after considering and tossing out dozens of others, which M&C Saatchi and Tourism Australia declined to disclose. 

In a TV version of the ad, smiling Australians describe, tongue-in-cheek, their efforts to make visitors feel welcome: "We've had the camels shampooed. . . . And we've got the sharks out of the pool. . . . We got the 'roos off the green." An Aboriginal dancer adds: "And we've been rehearsing for over 40,000 years." A bikini-clad young woman on an otherwise empty beach delivers the saucy tag line. 

"What I think this captures is the real Australia and who we really are -- an easygoing, welcoming nation," Mr. McFarlane says. "And people like us for that."


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## JustHorace (Dec 17, 2005)

So this is what the US is trying to censor!


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## jlshyang (May 22, 2005)

hehe, Aussies swear at tourist to visit their country?


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## Giorgio (Oct 9, 2004)

As if the word Bloody is a swear word! Comeon! How conservative is this world? Bloody is a standard in the good ol' aussie Vocabulary!


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## FREKI (Sep 27, 2005)

Where I bloody hell are? I'm in bloody Denmark, but I'll come to bloody Austrailia as bloody hell soon as I can find a bloody month or two to spare, within a bloody year or two is the bloody plan, so keep your bloody pants on ( and the bloody sharks out of the bloody pool )!!!

And btw I bloody love the comercial and I'm bloody tired of all the limitations to bloody free speech around the bloody globe.

Bloody Mr D


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## jai_gandhi (Dec 18, 2005)

^^LOL


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## crawf (Feb 11, 2006)

LOL


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## Cariad (Sep 22, 2005)

Guys,

The latest on this is that the UK is now permitting the word "bloody" on national TV, however now Canada have stepped into to ban the ad because of the word "hell", bloody is fine but given that the ad was due to air during "family" TV time, they found the word hell offensive and insensitive towards the younger viewers.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*CBC quibbles with ad
British censors balked at 'bloody,' CBC had problem with 'hell'*
KEITH MCARTHUR
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

If it's not the bloody, it's the hell.

When British censors banned a controversial Tourism Australia ad campaign this month, they did so because it used the word "bloody" in the question: "So where the bloody hell are you?"

Now the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation says it won't run the ad during family programming because of the word "hell."

"It just shows you the different taste levels of audiences in various cultures," said CBC spokeswoman Ruth Ellen Soles.

" 'Hell' is a problem for us in terms of kids and family viewing. It comes under the category of 'taste' and in these situations we listen to what our audience tells us."

Britain's Broadcasting Advertising Clearance Centre initially ordered Tourism Australia to edit the word "bloody" out of its ads, but the ban was lifted over the weekend.

Tourism Australia also plans to air the ad in Canada. Last week, it submitted the commercials to the CBC and to Telecaster, which screens commercials before they appear on Canada's private broadcasters.

The CBC said the ad can run with the vast majority of its content, but not on the two programs it characterizes as "family" programming: Be The Creature and The Wonderful World of Disney, which air late Sunday afternoon. And it won't be allowed in family Easter specials.

"We've also told the agency that we'll be monitoring audience reaction and if we get a significant number of complaints, we'll rethink running it," Ms. Soles said.

The head of Telecaster said that although it has approved the ads, it will flag them to make sure individual broadcasters know they contain objectionable language.

"Those are words that we would generally have problems with. They're on our list of bad words because we don't want kids picking up on that," said Jim Patterson, president and chief executive officer of the Television Bureau of Canada, which runs Telecaster.

But Mr. Patterson said Telecaster doesn't have any problem with the phrase in the context of the commercial.

The ad shows a sequence of vignettes in which various Australians tell potential tourists how they've prepared the country for their arrival: "We've poured you a beer," "We've shampooed the camel," and "We've saved you a spot on the beach."

A bikini-clad model then asks potential tourists: "So where the bloody hell are you?"

"The idea is that this is the way Australians talk to each other when they have a barbecue. . . ." said Luke Jones, director of Canada for Tourism Australia.

"That's kind of the invitation we wanted to extend to our visitors as well."

Mr. Jones said Tourism Australia has doubled its marketing budget in Canada. He said the "bloody hell" ads will likely run in Canada later this month or in April.

A major marketing campaign, involving print and Internet advertising, will run next fall when Canadians are planning their winter vacations.

Should Canadians be offended by the slightly risqué phrase, they can complain to Advertising Standards Canada (ASC), which monitors advertising through a complaints-driven process.

"If we got a complaint we would certainly look at what kind of program and the time that the ad was running. If it was adult programming after 9 or 10 p.m., it might be looked at differently than if it was something earlier in the evening when families typically watch shows together," said Janet Feasby, a vice-president with ASC.

Tourism Australia plans to use the "bloody hell" slogan everywhere except Singapore, where local laws required it to be replaced with "Where are you?"

Australian Tourism Minister Fran Bailey initially rejected suggestions that the "bloody" phrase would offend some potential viewers, calling it "the great Australian adjective."

And Prime Minister John Howard was on the defensive because the campaign came weeks after he criticized the use of foul language on television.

"I think it is a colloquialism. It's not a word that is seen quite in the same category as other words that nobody ought to use in public or in the media or in advertisements," he said last month.

"I think watching that young girl walking up the beach . . . is a very attractive image and I don't think people will see that is in any way bad mannered; quite the reverse."

_The campaign_

Tourism Australia is using TV and print ads to ask potential visitors: "So where the bloody hell are you?"

_The payoff_

The controversy has led to millions of dollars worth of press coverage for the campaign, as thousands of Brits went to wherethebloodyhellareyou.com to see the banned ad.

_The reaction_

Australia: At home, critics said the risqué Australian slang could confuse foreigners more used to Paul Hogan's invitation to "throw another shrimp on the barbie."

Britain: Britain's television advertising regulator initially banned the ad because it used the term "bloody." The ban was lifted this weekend.

Canada: Canadian broadcasters say they will air the ad, but the CBC won't let it run during family programming because of the word "hell."


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## Anton (Oct 4, 2002)

Cariad said:


> Guys,
> 
> The latest on this is that the UK is now permitting the word "bloody" on national TV, however now Canada have stepped into to ban the ad because of the word "hell", bloody is fine but given that the ad was due to air during "family" TV time, they found the word hell offensive and insensitive towards the younger viewers.



Lol – seems it's not just the word "hell" but something even weirder. Apparently the Canadian regulator is objecting to the mentioning of "unbranded beer" because of the opening line “I've bought you a beer". lol

And the Australian Tourism Minister’s response: "As far as this particular Canadian regulator is concerned, I'd love him to come out here and I'll buy him a beer and say thank-you," she said.

Here’s the article the latest article from the Sydney Morning Herald – click on the link and you also get a pic showing the best footage from the ad. Ha ha


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First it was "bloody", then it was "hell" and now it's "beer" that's tripping up an Australian tourism advertising campaign.

The recently launched and now controversial advertisement which concludes with the tagline "where the bloody hell are you?" has now run foul of the Canadian regulator.

But it's not the tagline that's the trouble this time as much as the opener: "I've bought you a beer".

Tourism Minister Fran Bailey said she had been told by Canadian authorities they could not accept that line.

"We now have the Canadian authorities not wanting us to use the opening segment of 'I've bought you a beer'," Ms Bailey said this afternoon.

"The Canadian regulator says that this implies consumption of unbranded alcohol.

"I have to say that I find this quite astonishing."

Ms Bailey clarified that it was not beer consumption itself that was causing the problem for the Canadians but the fact the beer was unbranded.

"That's some sort of quirky Canadian regulation," she said.

Ms Bailey said the regulator was not troubled by the ad's closing tagline which they found "warm and friendly and inviting".

Even so, the Canadian regulator would not allow the ad to be shown during a children's Easter program because of the final line.

However, the ad had never been scheduled to be shown then anyway, Ms Bailey said.

Ms Bailey said it was likely the opening sequence would be replaced with different but equally warm and friendly footage - not involving references to unbranded beer - to get around the problem.

Earlier today, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation spokeswoman Ruth Soles said her network had imposed its own restrictions on the advertisement.

Ms Soles said the word "hell" might offend viewers who tune in to a particular family viewing timeslot.

"'Hell' is a problem for us in terms of kids and family viewing," Ms Soles told the Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper. "It comes under the category of 'taste' and in these situations we listen to what our audience tells us.

"We'll be monitoring audience reaction and if we get a significant number of complaints, we'll rethink running it," she said.

Last week, Britain's advertising regulator objected to the word "bloody".
But they relented after Ms Bailey flew to the UK and lobbed on their doorstep to argue the case.

Ms Bailey said she had been told in London the controversy had itself generated "millions of pounds" worth of free publicity.

"As far as this particular Canadian regulator is concerned, I'd love him to come out here and I'll buy him a beer and say thank-you," she said.

Ms Bailey declined to say what sort of beer she would offer the Canadians.

The advertising campaign is due to be aired in Canada within the next month.

AAP


.


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## Cariad (Sep 22, 2005)

Ah you beat me to it Anton!!


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## Anton (Oct 4, 2002)

*Now the bloody Americans are offended too!  *

Who are the American Family Association? How influential are they? They are advising American’s not to holiday in Australia as American children will be exposed to “profanity” and “violence”. Lol – exposing kids to violence? :laugh: 

Their members say it is shocking because they haven’t been exposed to it – but don’t they consider that their country has been ramming their culture down the rest of the world’s throats whether it’s welcome or not? Oh well.



> Australians are spending all of these millions of dollars inviting us, and if we go over there are we going to be exposing our kids to foul language and images of bloody?


 :laugh:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/now-the-bloody-yanks-are-offended/2006/03/23/1143083882873.html

----------------------------------------
Now the bloody Yanks are offended
Email Print Normal font Large font March 23, 2006 - 3:36PM

Related coverage
Video: Judge for yourself 
Advertisement
AdvertisementA major conservative American lobby group is set to unleash a campaign of protest against Australian tourism's "where the bloody hell are you?" TV advertisement.

The controversial commercial has made its US debut in front of 20 million American TV viewers and one influential group was not amused.

The American Family Association (AFA), which has more than two million members and leads campaigns against abortion and gay rights, was upset with the bikini-clad model Lara Bingle's use of "bloody" and "hell" in the ad's tagline.

AFA members are expected to bombard Tourism Australia with thousands of emails and phone calls in coming weeks to vent their feelings.

Members are also expected to boycott Australia as a holiday destination.

"I just feel pretty sure the typical American family who is watching TV with their children and they're exposed to this ad are going to be upset," AFA director of special projects, Randy Sharp, said.

"I don't want my children to hear that phrase.

"It's a shocking phrase because we're not familiar with it.

"I guess they use it all the time in Australia, but it's a foreign language here so I think it'll have a negative impact rather than positive."

British TV authorities dropped a ban on the use of the word "bloody" after pressure from Australia, but now Canadian authorities are unhappy with the way the ad portrays beer drinking.

Tourism Australia launched the ad in the US with a 30-second spot during the hit TV series Lost, which draws around 20 million American viewers each week.

The ad also aired on some of America's most-watched cable TV channels, including Rupert Murdoch's FOX News, the popular A&E channel, TNT, TBS, Fine Living and the home improvement network, HGTV.

The ad has not upset America's broadcast regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), but all it takes is for one viewer complaint for the FCC to launch an investigation.

FCC spokesperson Rebecca Fisher said she was unaware of any complaints.

Tourism Australia acting managing director Andrew McEvoy said US TV networks had no problem clearing the ad.

The Mississippi-based AFA's campaigns have had enormous lobbying success in the US.

Last year the group called on its members to file formal complaints against US TV network CBS for a "teenage orgy scene" depicted in Australian actor Anthony LaPaglia's hit TV series, Without A Trace.

The FCC last week fined more than 100 CBS affiliate stations $US3.6 million ($A5 million) for airing the orgy scene.

The AFA website congratulates its members on the campaign with a "You did it!" headline and a link to send the FCC a thank-you message.

The AFA is also calling on its members to lobby Pizza Hut to ban a "sexually suggestive" ad featuring pop princess Jessica Simpson, in which she feeds food into a teenager's mouth, causing the boy to faint.

Sharp said he enjoyed the Tourism Australia ad until the end when Bingle asks "where the bloody hell are you?"

"When you think 'bloody' in America you think the red liquid that flows from human bodies which is usually a sign of some kind of violence," Sharp said.

Tourism Australia contact details will be made available to AFA members.

"They will hear from a lot of our members who are going to be insulted," Sharp said.

"Australians are spending all of these millions of dollars inviting us, and if we go over there are we going to be exposing our kids to foul language and images of bloody?

"We don't want our kids to hear the term 'bloody'.

"We certainly don't want our kids to hear profanity."


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## FREKI (Sep 27, 2005)

OMG soon Australia will be hit by a boycott because they offended North America!

Well atleast you can swear all you want to in Danish television, but we don't have the bloody Australian commercial here, not yet anyway!

Oh and just a question to the British, when happened before "bloody" was allowed if anyone ordered a *bloody Mary" in a film or show - did they bliip out the bloody part ? It's ridicules! :lol:


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## Anton (Oct 4, 2002)

Mr_Denmark said:


> OMG soon Australia will be hit by a boycott because they offended North America!
> 
> Well atleast you can swear all you want to in Danish television, but we don't have the bloody Australian commercial here, not yet anyway!
> 
> Oh and just a question to the British, when happened before "bloody" was allowed if anyone ordered a *bloody Mary" in a film or show - did they bliip out the bloody part ? It's ridicules! :lol:


Actually, the really stupid thing is that although "bloody" is common place and no worse than using "damn" the actual phrase "where the bloody hell are you?" in my experienced is much more likely to be used in anger than in jest as the ad depicts. I never say it unless i'm angry.

My opinion: dumb ad but even dumber international response hno:


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## Tuscani01 (Nov 24, 2005)

Mr_Denmark said:


> OMG soon Australia will be hit by a boycott because they offended North America!
> 
> Well atleast you can swear all you want to in Danish television, but we don't have the bloody Australian commercial here, not yet anyway!
> 
> Oh and just a question to the British, when happened before "bloody" was allowed if anyone ordered a *bloody Mary" in a film or show - did they bliip out the bloody part ? It's ridicules! :lol:


LOL! I already stopped visiting the kangaroos at the zoo!


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## DrJoe (Sep 12, 2002)

CBC has only banned it from 2 kiddie shows.


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## snife2005 (May 16, 2005)

In the UK it is now going to be shown on national TV unedited. The ban Britain imposed on the slogan of Australia's new tourism campaign - So where the bloody hell are you?- has been repealed.

Perhaps the change of heart was helped on its way by Prince Edward who used the word 'bloody' on Australian TV. Edward lost his temper with a member of his staff. The prince then turned from the camera and shouted at an aide typing on a laptop: You don't know how annoying that bloody clicking is over here.

The presenter on Australia's Channel 7 mumbled: So it's OK for royalty then.

Britain's watchdog Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BAAC) upheld an appeal by Australian Tourism Minister Fran Bailey.

I am pleased that common sense prevailed and the regulators realised the campaign was intended to be cheeky, friendly and very Australian, Bailey said in a statement. My faith in the British sense of humour has been restored.

The oath 'bloody' ranks 27th on the BAAC's list of offensive words that may not appear in advertisements, just after 'crap' and just before of 'God'. Also off-limits are bastard (6th), bollocks (8th), bugger (21st), sodding (24th) and Jesus Christ (25th).


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## Valeroso (Sep 19, 2004)

Mr_Denmark said:


> OMG soon Australia will be hit by a boycott because they offended North America!


Haha, yes! I am surprised how annoyingly _prudish_ and pathetically meticulous these nations censors can actually be!! The next minute you know, they might probably sue for compensation because they've been so "damaged" by these words! But this is at least ego-boosting, as now it seems that Australia has quite leniant censorship rules.


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## Plumber73 (Mar 3, 2005)

Bloody hell!!! Something new to use at work. Tired of saying "c*ck sucker". :cheers:


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## JayT (Sep 11, 2002)

Clever add - seems controversy works. 

Now we need some bare breasted women on American TV promoting Australia - I notice that on American TV they still blur out bare breasts.


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