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Surprise, surprise, UK ad ban lifted
British advertising regulators have decided to lift their ban on the Australian advertising tagline ‘So, where the bloody hell are you?’.
It is a key part of Tourism Australia’s latest global marketing campaign and the backdown follows meetings between Australian Tourism Minister Fran Bailey and key British officials.
“I am pleased that common sense prevailed and the regulators realised the campaign was intended to be cheeky, friendly and very Australian,” Bailey said.
“There were already two commercials previously run on British television using the word ‘bloody’ and UK research had shown those ads were not seen as offensive by consumers.”
More than 50,000 Brits have accessed the ad via the Australia.com website and the campaign has been viewed worldwide courtesy of the BBC.
Bailey said many people had been stunned by the controversy surrounding the advertisement.
The campaign will now be run in its entirety on UK television, as well as in cinemas, in print and on the internet.
In another intriguing twist to this publicity rich campaign Lara Bingle, the bikini clad beauty currently in the UK to promote Tourism Australia’s Where the Bloody Hell Are You? campaign will return home to find her face plastered on magazine stands and billboards around the country.
The editor of Zoo Weekly Paul Merrill said he was thrilled to have “scooped the world” with the shots of Bingle, which were taken six months ago when she was unknown.
Bingle will appear on the front cover of the magazine and features in a shoot wearing five different bikinis.
“We’ve been deluged by calls from our readers demanding we feature her on our cover,” Merrill said. “Well, here she bloody well is.”
“I’ll predict she will bring millions more whinging poms to our shores,” he said.
Graham Muldoon
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