# Australia: Racier Commercials? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2002, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-racier-commercials/102035 "2002-04-05T18:04:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-racier-commercials/102035/41 "2002-04-11T13:08:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Space Vampire \* > \*\*Nutty Brits. \*\* But I’m not British, **Vamp** , just studying here. And now that I’ve seen the difference between U.S. and European television (I lived in France last year too), I’ll take European broadcast mores over American ones any day. Most of the shows over here are crap, mind you, but they’re on the right track. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-racier-commercials/102035/42 "2002-04-12T05:26:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mersavets \* > \*\*…as am I. It’s for Berlitz, who are one of the largest private language schools. The ad is Belgian, although someone said it was Dutch. The ad is probably in Flemish, hence the confusion. \*\* What audience is the ad intended for? People who already know English and realize the humor of the commercial, or people who don’t know it and have no idea what the point is with the happy family listening to music? The fact that they use the name of one of the most well known language courses doesn’t mean anything. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-racier-commercials/102035/43 "2002-04-12T09:49:25Z")
It’s intended for people who already have some knowledge of English and want to improve it, plain and simple. You don’t need to know a hell of a lot of English to understand “I wanna fuck you in the ass.” A lot of language ads are already in their target language, so there’s really no problem that I see as far as the target audience is concerned. Is it still your contention that this commercial is fake? My experience and the sites I’ve linked to seem to prove otherwise. Although if you find a cite proving otherwise, I’ll take a look into it. (I’m guessing that the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston probably put some research into this, so have a look at that site again.) ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-racier-commercials/102035/44 "2002-04-12T09:58:23Z")
> [@](#): > > _by kyomara_ > Kyomara I’ve always been told by friends returning from Australia that it is actually quite a conservative country. Although that really has very little to do with whether or not you can see tits on TV, I guess. ehh… depends what your comparing it to. where probably more liberal than the u.s and the british, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some right royal dickheads about the place. ---
**Author:** ![Mersavets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-racier-commercials/102035/45 "2002-04-12T10:26:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > \*\* > > What audience is the ad intended for? People who already know English and realize the humor of the commercial, or people who don’t know it and have no idea what the point is with the happy family listening to music? The fact that they use the name of one of the most well known language courses doesn’t mean anything. \*\* Damn, the boards slowed down too much when I tried to post exactly what _pulykamell_ said. In Europe, if you have any interest in English, then you’ll probably know a bit. In fact, you can’t get away from it with English as a standard subject in many countries. It can always be better though and people’s productive grasp of a language always lags behind their receptive ability. For example, I can read and comprehend a Russian newspaper or book fairly well, but producing a text or piece of speech is more problematic. It seems to me that you have good reason for your disbelief in the authenticity of the ad. I’m just wondering why this is. I’m not asking for cites or anything anal like that; just tell me in what context you heard it. ---
**Author:** ![Mersavets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-racier-commercials/102035/46 "2002-04-12T10:37:51Z")
Sorry, I didn’t mean to suggest **pulykamell** is anal for requesting a cite.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-racier-commercials/102035/47 "2002-04-16T02:12:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gex gex \* > \*\* > > ehh… depends what your comparing it to. we’re probably more liberal than the u.s and the british, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some right royal dickheads about the place. \*\* What I meant was that Australia is politically quite conservative (so I have been told…again, no personal experience). But that has little to do with what gets shown on TV. In the U.S., naked people on television is considered to be “liberal,” but if you live in a country that doesn’t have so many sexual hang-ups, nudity has nothing to do with liberal or conservative. You know what I mean? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-racier-commercials/102035.md?page=2)