Tourism Australia has sense of humour failure over 'bloody hell' parody

by Jennifer Whitehead, Brand Republic 27-Mar-06, 08:50

LONDON - Tourism Australia may have been critical of those failing to see the funny side of its 'bloody hell' advertising campaign, but it appears to have had a sense of humour failure over a spoof version of the ad.

The spoof of the "where the bloody hell are you?" ad was created by multimedia production company Downwind Media and featured on Brand Republic's blog on Friday.

It reminds viewers of the recent race-related violence in Sydney, with the line "we've got the ethnics off the beach"; highlights Australia's poor treatment of refugees; shows a baby being fed to a dingo, in reference to the infamous Azaria Chamberlain murder case; and finishes with the line "So where the fucking hell are yous?".

Now, according to Downwind Media, Tourism Australia has threatened legal action over the use of the music in the parody, and demanded it be removed from the Downwind website.

Dan Ilic, executive producer at Downwind Media, said that even though the song sounded similar, it was not the same track. Nonetheless, the company has complied with Tourism Australia's request and removed the original parody from its website, but has replaced it with four new versions.

"We have received a number of emails from Australians everywhere around the globe regarding the spoof, and not one negative. Which goes to show one aspect of Australia that the images of the Harbour Bridge, forests and beaches don't capture is the nation's enormous capacity to laugh at itself. It is therefore ironic that Tourism Australian labels our spoof as 'mean-spirited and humourless'.

"I didn't know that taking the piss was un-Australian, but if it is, I'm guilty as charged," Ilic said.

The original ad was created by M&C Saatchi and has garnered a huge amount of free publicity for Tourism Australia after the UK's Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre said the ad could not run on television here. It later rescinded its decision.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has joined in the laughs over the campaign. In an address to Australian federal MPs in Canberra's parliament house, he said: "Here I am, in the Australian parliament building at what I think is something like four o'clock in the morning in the UK, and so I'm thinking: 'So where the bloody hell am I?'."

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