AUSTRALIA: Britain censors Australia's "bloody hell" advertisment from television because it is too rude

Record ID: 481536

  • Title: AUSTRALIA: Britain censors Australia's "bloody hell" advertisment from television because it is too rude
  • Date: 11th March 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOHN ILOENYOSI, 31, LONDON RESIDENT, SAYING: "Well, I've seen worse really. But I don't find anything hardly offensive in that at all, really. No, not at all. I can't see why they would want to ban that, especially in England." (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAMANTHA GREEN, 28, AUSTRALIAN NOW LIVING IN LONDON, SAYING: "It's what Australia's all about, you know? I don't think anyone would be offended. Not at all. I think they'd wand to get straight on a plane and go." (SOUNDBITE) (English) VICCI BROCKWELL, 29, LONDON RESIDENT, SAYING: "Obviously most people who go to Australia are in their mid-twenties up to thirties and they probably say that most of the time. So, I don't think it really affects whether they're going to Australia or not going to Australia." (SOUNDBITE) (English) HINA HERSSON, 26, LONDON RESIDENT, SAYING: "With the expression I can see the accent 'Bloody hell, where are ya, mate?'"
  • Embargoed: 26th March 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Australia
  • Country: Australia
  • Topics: Travel / Tourism
  • Reuters ID: LVA90AF415BYRZ1DSTA3II6HKN8V
  • Story Text: The country that gave the world such risqué comic acts as Benny Hill, the Two Ronnies and Little Britain has banned Australia's new "bloody hell" tourism ads from television because they are too rude.
    Australian Tourism Minister Fran Bailey said on Friday (March 10), the ads showing a bikini-clad woman on a beach asking "so where the bloody hell are you?", were still doing their job.
    "To make people sit up and take notice of Australia, and you'd have to say the ad is doing that. It's delivering," she said in Sydney.
    Bailey has written to Britain's Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell, to have the television ban overturned.
    Censored ads are scheduled to run in their place while uncensored versions will be shown in British cinemas and appear in print.
    Britain's Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC), a specialist body responsible for the pre-transmission examination and clearance of television advertisements, requested the advertisement be amended because it contained bad language.
    The BACC were not available for an interview on friday, but in a statement posted on its website responding to the move it said: "Clearly times change and what constitutes offence for viewers changes with time and it is also true that what is commonplace language for many is extremely distasteful for others. The BACC has to tread a delicate path between being over-protective on the one hand and about the feelings of many viewers on the other and this is a difficult line to draw. Practice, experience and research lead us to avoid swearing in television advertising."
    On the streets of London, people were surprised to hear the ads were considered offensive.
    "I can't see why they would want to ban that, especially in England," said London resident John Iloenyosi.
    "It's what Australia's all about, you know? I don't think anyone would be offended. Not at all. I think they'd wand to get straight on a plane and go," added Samantha Green who was born in Australia but now lives in London.
    Tourism Australia was unfazed by the British TV ban.
    "When we've invited people around to our place and we've been waiting for them to come and they haven't shown up yet, we usually get on the phone and say .... So where the bloody hell are you?," said Tourism Australia managing director Scott Morrison while attending the German International Tourism Fair being held in Berlin, adding that they would continue to work with British authorities to resolve the issue.
    The ads are the centrepiece of a A$180 million ($133 million USD) campaign designed to lure tourists to Australia.
    It is already running in the United States and New Zealand and will also target China, Japan, India and Germany as well as Britain.
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