Thursday, March 23, 2006

Bloody hell!

A 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 made has 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 Australian 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, told AAP.
"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.

"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.

3 comments:

Beecham Motors said...

see nothing wrong with the ad campaign. These people are overreacting!

We have so many expressions that differ between various parts of the world.

I just learned last year that "fanny pack" is an objectionable term when used in the UK.

To us in the US, the term is used all the time and simply refers to one of these nylon or leather waist belts that are so popular for carrying cell phones, wallets, and all sorts of misc stuff on your hip.

Let them boycott OZ. It will be all the less crowded for Gary's next visit.

(blogged on behalf of Kevin)

Anonymous said...

geez theyre a bunch of wankers i've heard much worse, I mean its not even rude, they want to get a life

Sue said...

No it isn't rude Brizpaul, I can't really see the problem. Also, the language and type of conversations that come out of the mouths of people on this tiny Isle that I live on, can be quite disgusting. Double standards thing again. It makes me sick. I can't believe America is now protesting.

By the way, I hadn't heard of "fanny pack", but where do all these expressions come from anyway?

The thing is, it's one word, not a strong word, not a rude word, and to be quite honest with you, life is to short to worry about it. Is this all they really have to worry about.

Now to tackle the housework.