"Where the bloody hell are you?"

[Titans#1]

AN old Paul Hogan ad for Foster's and another for Toyota that used the word "bloody" will be cited by federal Tourism Minister Fran Bailey when she tries to overturn a British ban on the "Where the bloody hell are you?" television advertisements.

But Ms Bailey concedes it will be a near hopeless task, leaving the multi-million dollar campaign to run solely in print, online and at cinemas.
"It's probably a big ask," Ms Bailey said.

"But the Australian way is not to give up, to have a go.

"The chances of success are probably very slim but now I have found out about these other two ads, we'll see."

Ms Bailey is in London to launch the ad campaign but finds herself fighting a decision by the British Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) to ban the television arm of the campaign because of the use of the "offensive" word.

She will meet with the BACC and the Office of Communications this week in a bid to overturn the ban and hold a press conference for British media to try to get the UK public behind the ads.
"I will be appealing directly to the British public because the regulator is completely out of step with the public," Ms Bailey said.

"They understand our humour, they know it's a warm, friendly invitation and not offensive in any way."

In her visit to the BACC, the minister will ask why a 1983 Foster's beer ad in which Paul Hogan is seen wandering around London and cheekily mentions the "bloody tower", and a 1998 ad for Toyota that had talking goldfish saying "bloody" were allowed to be shown while the Tourism Australia ads were banned.

"I'm just astonished that the same regulator has banned the same tagline in our ad," Ms Bailey said.

[SuperCliffy#01]

And yet the same people in Britain will allow uncensored episodes of Billy Connoly's World tours complete with the magic word included. one word Hypoctrates.cya.

[Dakink]

AN old Paul Hogan ad for Foster's and another for Toyota that used the word "bloody" will be cited by federal Tourism Minister Fran Bailey when she tries to overturn a British ban on the "Where the bloody hell are you?" television advertisements.

But Ms Bailey concedes it will be a near hopeless task, leaving the multi-million dollar campaign to run solely in print, online and at cinemas.
"It's probably a big ask," Ms Bailey said.

"But the Australian way is not to give up, to have a go.

"The chances of success are probably very slim but now I have found out about these other two ads, we'll see."

Ms Bailey is in London to launch the ad campaign but finds herself fighting a decision by the British Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) to ban the television arm of the campaign because of the use of the "offensive" word.

She will meet with the BACC and the Office of Communications this week in a bid to overturn the ban and hold a press conference for British media to try to get the UK public behind the ads.
"I will be appealing directly to the British public because the regulator is completely out of step with the public," Ms Bailey said.

"They understand our humour, they know it's a warm, friendly invitation and not offensive in any way."

In her visit to the BACC, the minister will ask why a 1983 Foster's beer ad in which Paul Hogan is seen wandering around London and cheekily mentions the "bloody tower", and a 1998 ad for Toyota that had talking goldfish saying "bloody" were allowed to be shown while the Tourism Australia ads were banned.

"I'm just astonished that the same regulator has banned the same tagline in our ad," Ms Bailey said.

They did plan for this though - they have made an editied version for the UK TV without the word bloody just in case.

[Titanium_BD1103]

LOL not even the Brits are annoyed by it.. just silly bureaucrats... ... look...

from news.ninemsn.com.au

Brits not offended by 'bloody' Aussie ad
Monday Mar 13 14:26 AEDT

Research commissioned by the British Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) shows the British public are not fazed by the term "bloody", Tourism Australia says.

The BACC, Britain's television advertising regulator, last week banned the new $180 million Australian tourism campaign slogan: "So where the bloody hell are you?" from its screens, claiming the word was on its banned list.

Tourism Australia managing director Scott Morrison said the BACC's own research six years ago found only three per cent of the British public considered "bloody" to be very offensive.

The survey found 86 per cent believed the phrase was quite mild or not considered swearing, and 85 per cent believed it was appropriate for the phrase to be seen after 9pm.

"These results demonstrate that the term bloody is the least offensive of all the terms put forward by the BACC ... and it begs the question why the term bloody was ever included in the list in the first place," Mr Morrison said.

"The research includes numerous other phrases which rightly should not be seen on anyone's television, but based on the findings of the BACC's own research, bloody is clearly not one of them."

Tourism Australia is appealing the decision.

Federal Tourism Minister Fran Bailey, who is in Britain with Mr Morrison to launch the campaign, will meet the BACC and the Office of Communications this week in a bid to overturn the ban.

In her visit to the BACC, Ms Bailey will ask why a 1983 Foster's beer ad in which Paul Hogan is seen wandering around London and cheekily mentions the "bloody tower", and a 1998 ad for Toyota that had talking goldfish saying "bloody" were allowed to be shown.

But she admits having the ban overturned will be "a big ask".

"The chances of success are probably very slim but now I have found out about these other two ads, we'll see," she said.

"I'm just astonished that the same regulator has banned the same tagline in our ad."

In the meantime, an alternative version of the commercial with the phrase "so where the hell are you?", will be run on British television.

The uncut version will continue to be displayed on the web and will screen in cinemas.

Print versions will follow later in major travel publications.

?AAP 2006

[Dakink]

Laugh that you can SEE it in cinema but not on Tele!! Typical Poms.

[qld power]

i love the add always brings a smile to me when its played here in nz :beer:

[Eel 33]

i love the add always brings a smile to me when its played here in nz :beer:

What do the kiwis think TBC?

[Titans#1]

NO sooner than British censors cleared Australia's colourful tourism campaign, Canadian officials have banned it, but not because of the word "bloody".

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has refused to run the "Where The Bloody Hell Are You" ad during family television programming because of the word "hell", Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper reported today.
"It just shows you the different taste levels of audiences in various cultures," CBC spokeswoman Ruth Ellen Soles told the newspaper.

"'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."

Tourism Australia last week 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 could run alongside most of its content, but not on two programs it characterised as "family" programming. It also would not 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 told the Globe and Mail.
The head of Telecaster said that although it had approved the ads, it would flag them so individual broadcasters knew they contained 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.

Tourism Australia's Canada director Luke Jones said the adverts were likely to run there later this month or next.

British authorities allowed the advert to screen there at the weekend after Tourism Minister Fran Bailey flew over to persuade them to change their minds.

British television audiences will now be able to see the entire advertisement, which features Australia's top tourist attractions and ends with the tag line: "So where the bloody hell are you?".

The ad was pulled after Britain's Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) objected to use of the word "bloody".

Maybe we should rethink the whole campaign....or are we just a crude nation? I don't think so.

[Titanium_BD1103]

LOL no... I don't think so.. I just think the rest of the world should stop being so precious.. come on... Canada allowed South Park and the word Bloody is from the English...so they should just accept that this is a good campaign and stop causing problems...

Oh well now the Canadians will want to see it.. and that can only be good for us... this was one of the smarter ads created IMO..

[Dakink]

Nope leave it as it is - This is attracting so much media attention - people are going out of their way to have a look. This has inceased Australias profile massively and I daresay was the aim from the start - you would have to say a succesful campaign wether it gets banned or not..s

[Titans#1]

FIRST it was "bloody", then it was "hell" and now it's "beer" itself 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 in Melbourne.

"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 Corp spokeswoman Ruth Soles told ABC Radio 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.

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.

What's next you reckon?

[Super Cronk]

who even watches ads anyway...

[Dakink]

As per my post above - the censors are doing all the tourism board's work for it!!

[Steve Dangerous]

i think i've said this before, but i doubt much of this is making news over there. nothing like over hear at least.

[Dakink]

i think i've said this before, but i doubt much of this is making news over there. nothing like over hear at least.

I think it is - I remember reading in one of the papers that the website had a phenomonal number of hits after it was banned.

Also Just recently the BBc aired an interview with the Prince fella that is over here (cant remember his name), the reason it was aired on TV is that his private secretary was working on a lap top during an interview and the prince said something along the lines over he never shuts up with that bloody thing.

It made the Pommy news as the censors had tried to ban the word bloody but it was alright for the roaysl to say it.