Britain’s advertising watchdog on Wednesday ordered Tourism Australia to pull down its posters promoting the country in an “irreverent” Australian fashion because they contain mild swearing.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) told the tourism agency to remove the lot and not to use swear words again in future posters.
Tourism Australia’s year-long campaign, which features a bikini-clad model on a beach asking “So where the bloody hell are you?”, has run into trouble in Britain and Canada and stirred up a rousing defence from Sydney.
The ASA said the posters breached the industry code relating to responsibility and children.
“We considered that parents were entitled to expect that poster advertising should not appear to endorse or encourage swearing,” the watchdog said.
Tourism Australia said it was not out to cause offence and regretted that any was taken.
Their campaign targeted an older audience who would understand the “irreverent” Australian humour, they said, explaining that it was intended to extend a hospitable welcome in a “uniquely Australian manner”.
The parallel television campaign last year also got into hot water.
British television regulators initially banned the ads on the grounds that “bloody” was an unacceptable swear word, and use of the word “hell” caused problems in Canada.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation banned the ad during two family viewing time slots.
Britain’s ASA received complaints that the advert was offensive and inappropriate but eventually ruled that it was a light-hearted play on Aussie informality and did not breach the code on decency.
The British ban sparked a storm of ridicule and criticism in Australia, which dispatched Tourism Minister Fran Bailey to London to defend the ad campaign and poke fun at the British for losing their “sense of humour”. — AFP