Don’t You Bloody Talk To Me Like That!

The content of TV programmes in the 21st century is sometimes incomprehensibly liberal. Graphic depictions of violence and sex are interspersed with virtually any word you could care to imagine – after all it is not long since the screening of Jerry Springer The Opera gained such notoriety. However, in a bizarre display of double standards, TV viewers must be shielded from the phrase “bloody hell.”

Tourism Australia put together one of their typically beautiful adverts for TV and cinema to be screened in the UK. It features all the usual things one might expect – hopping ‘roos, fireworks over Sydney Harbour, the outback, Ayres Rock, aboriginal dancers and, of course, beer. So what’s so controversial about that? Well, it has been banned from TV screens because it concludes with a bikini-clad Aussie asking “So where the bloody hell are you?”

Thank goodness we’ve all been spared from such offence!

So what basis is there for pulling the adverts? Under the Broadcast Advertising Code (TV) Section 6.1 Offence:

“Advertisements must not cause serious or widespread offence against generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards, or offend against public feeling Notes:(1) Although no list can be exhaustive, and values evolve over time, society has shared standards in areas such as: (a) the portrayal of death, injury, violence (particularly sexual violence), cruelty or misfortune (b) respect for the interests and dignity of minorities (c) respect for spiritual beliefs, rites, sacred images etc (d) sex and nudity, and the use of offensive language. (For further information see the ITC research reports Nudity in Television Advertising and the ASA/ITC report Delete Expletives. The latter reports on attitudes to swearing and offensive language.)”

According to the ASA/ITC report (page 52) “bloody” is the 27th most offensive word in the English language, with only 3% of the population thinking that it is “very severe” – it trails a long way behind, for example “shag” which was plastered all over posters for the Austin Powers film.

Are we really going to get adversely affected by hearing the word “bloody” used in an affectionate context as in the Australian advert? Admittedly it should probably not be shown before the watershed – but as much for the promotion of drinking alcohol as anything else.

The advert itself is nothing spectacular and would probably never have been remembered except for this episode. "It's a bit of a PR dream," Tourism Australia Managing Director Scott Morrison said – I bet it is, and the cynic in me might wonder if it was done on purpose. With so many people using the internet now, we can all just go and look at it online and the advert has become a viral. So instead of buying space on TV, we all now want to go and look at it online which will cost the Aussies comparatively little.

Has Tourism Australia learned the rules of our game, played us at it and won? That’d be unlike Australians eh?

By the way, you can see the advert here http://www.wherethebloodyhellareyou.com/ , but be warned – I was shocked by the profane language!