A question for our 'Merkin friends who’ve been to the Land Downunder…
What do you think of our television commercials?
I’ve read a book that ridiculed our ads as being too forthright and plainly spoken among other things. I wondered how our ads appeared to visitors/newcomers who weren’t looking to take the piss out of us (so to speak).
[sub]Mods, I guess this could be IMHO, but how much more mundane and pointless can you get?[/sub]
Do you find Australian advertising to be unsophisticated and overstated, or on a par with the rest of the world (albeit with a unique Aussie flavour)?
I’ve been to Australia and I’m trying to think about what I recall from the TV commercials. Hrm…
I don’t recall anything odd about the commercials but I found some of the TV shows funny. There was one fishing show that really made us laugh. We were in Indonesia at the time, but it was an Australian show.
It was more the enthusiasm the host had and the imitation my Irish husband was doing of the guy saying, “G’day, g’day Bruce.”
So, having not answered your question, I’d say the TV shows I’ve seen lack some of the polish of US over-produced, expensively-made TV shows, but I liked them all the more for it.
I spent a month there and watched quite a bit of TV and I can’t recall a single commercial. Although television as a whole felt more like local programming then national programming. Especially on the weekends when it seems the only thing on was sports.
Part of that is the fact that you use PAL and we use NTSC.
Geez, I spent two weeks in Australia, which was great – except for these three weirdos I had dinner with in Melbourne – but I cannot remember watching a single minute of TV there. If I did, the ads didn’t make much impression on me. I tend not to watch TV ads at home, either, so it isn’t surprising.
I do remember seeing some great billboards outside Sydney, for some herbal something-or-other to enhance your sex life, that I would never have seen in the States.
Do they still have those billboards for Cold Power laundry detergent in Sydney? (Cold Power is a brand of detergent designed for washing in cold water.) They were great: a white shirt hanging on a washing line – complete with visible nipples .
Concerning the OP, I think it would be difficult for foreigners to grasp some of the subtleties of Australian humour, which occasionally turns up in TV advertising. Consider that classic VB ad with the deliberate, almost campy (IMO) over-the-top machismo.
I spent about five months in Australia and I watched a good amount of TV, but I don’t remember anything “unusual” about the commercials. The TV shows themselves seemed more… hmm… posed, I guess, than what I’m used to in the States. Like the action was clearly taking place in a studio. Probably becuase, as ** Anahita ** said, they’re less shined up than American shows.
The only ads that I found laughable were the laundry detergent ads by… whatshisname… Big Dave, or Big Ted, or somebody. Shoot, I forget his name. His ads were pretty low-budgety looking things that reminded me of the ads on local stations for redneck used car salesmen in the US. He wears a jacket with the Australian flag on it, and his tagline is “I’m Big (Name), and I’m excited!” But I never got the impression that his ads were highly respected by Australians, either.
So as far as I recall, there’s nothing noticeably different between Aussie ads and American ads, except the accent. If they do deal more plainly with some subjects (which I never noticed), more power to them. If a commercial’s about constipation, I want to know that, so I don’t go out and buy the product because I think it will brighten my day, or something.
As for ** Narrad ** 's point about the sense of humor, I think that’s a valid consideration. The dry Australian sense of humor is somewhat different from the American “Look! I’m telling a joke!” attitude, and I think some Americans might not get Aussie humor. So if an ad relies on appreciation of a joke, it may backfire with audiences from a different cultural background.
In short, I think your book is quite possibly full of hooey, ** cazzle ** .
Very shrewd too. A lot of people I knew ordered his crappy detergents just so we could say “I’m excited!” and laugh at the sheer crappiness of his ads.
But remember those ads run nationally and in prime-time. Big money was spent promoting Big Kev’s products. I have more than an inkling that the ads were deliberately crapified to appeal to the Australian sense of humour. Big Kev camped it up – c’mon, the silk Aussie flag shirt! – to endear himself to us. And it works.
I lived in Melbourne and Geelong for six months, and am heading to Sydney come October for another six (by far the better hemisphere to winter in). The general vibe I got from Aussie TV in general was that it was more plain spoken, but thats not a bad thing. In the 'States commercals don’t nessasarily sell a product, they sell an attitude twards a product.
Case in point, Herbal Essances shampoo. For the past few years they’ve been running these commerials featuring women having screaming, shuddering orgasms while using this stuff (sometime while in elevators and courtrooms, but that’s beside the point). They don’t mention why the stuff is supposed to be any good – is it PH balanced? Does it have balsam and protien? Does it make your hair glisten, bounce and behave? Who knows, 'cause they don’t tell you if it does. Just shuddering orgasms is all.
The Aussies strike me as grounded, sensible folk who’d ‘take the piss out of’ any company who tied that there (unless it was done tongue-in-cheek, which these aren’t).
Now, if only we could do something about all those Cagney and Lacey re-runs.
I remember the Decore ads with all those folks in showers - what phallic symbol?
VB ads playing on the macho Aussie. Some of the actors look like they couldn’t lift a pencil - as if the three day beard growth and fake sweat would make it!
Weetbix ads - got me eating them every morning. Geez a Yank who likes Weetbix!
The best ads were the send up ads on shows like Fast Forward. No holding back. Hell, in America when they do one of those consumer pieces on TV here, they black out the names of the products just so they don’t receive any free advertising!
And that stupid chicken with the Toyota ads.
But a real dumb one is the winter-only ads for Tip Top’s “english” muffins.
And then there were those PSA ads - like the Grim Reaper AIDS ad, and the anti-drink driving ads with all those realistic commercials.
I know, I know, cazzle you were looking for non-australian opinions.
But mine (having lived in the UK for a while) is that Australian ads are unsubtle and unpolished compared to European ads, but sometimes that works for them, rather than against them in a rustic kind of way. I would so unsophisticated, but not overstated.
Nope, for overstated you have to go to that land of hype, 'Merika. I’ve seen less of their ads, but to me, they seem overpolished, like a glossy brochure where everything is beautiful and nothing is real. And as a consequence (at least to me) nothing is in the least bit convincing.
Obviously, Australian advertising in general is on somewhat of a par with American advertising, or at least has very little that’s noticably different about it.
Duckster, I reckon most Aussies could pinpoint the period you visited us in, almost to the year - just by the list of commercials you mention!
Inky - They have those Herbal Essences ads here too. I do not buy Herbal Essences, and have heard people refer to them as “Those stupid ads”, so I don’t know if they’re very successful.
pld - Yeah, you keep telling yourself that all the other people there were weird, and you were the sane one… r-iiii-ght
I watched very little TV when I was in Perth. Too much fun stuff to do and people to meet. Did see a funny guy on the telly we hadn’t ever heard of before, Paul Hogan. It’s been a while.
– but I cannot remember watching a single minute of TV there. If I did, the ads didn’t make much impression on me. I tend not to watch TV ads at home, either, so it isn’t surprising.
