The key tag line referred to "throwing a shrimp on the barbie", and the image makers used Hogan's film persona of "Crocodile Dundee" to the limit, portraying Australia as a sunny, outdoor, casual and informal place with not just a few weekend crocodile wrestlers. Before this, the image was of fauna and flora and beaches, with the Koala being beloved of European's and the Japanese taking an unexplained attraction the the filly necked lizard. Rumours still existed outside Australia that kangaroos bounded down George Street in Sydney.

The new campaign borrows heavily on the Hogan campaign, with the lacklustre performance of campaigns since, some of which attempted to build a more sophisticated image in reaction, the Rat is sure, to almost all Australians getting heartily sick of being greeted with a slurred "G'day mate" as soon as they arrived on foreign shores... Not only that, but they were expected to consume copious amounts of Foster's Beer. ..And should the poor Aussie not run to the dunny to siphon the python every 10 minutes and perform a spectacular technicolor yawn or have a telephone conversation with God every hour or so, the hosts seemed quite despondant at their poor performance.

The new campaign focuses on Australians as those who love simple pleasures, the outdoor life, restaurants, .. and nude beaches. According to a spokesman for the Australian Tourist Commission, expressed in simple language... "..sex sells..". Some Australians disagree. And the Arts community is up in arms on the rebirth of the unsophisticated Ocker. Conservative groups dont like the nude beach stuff too much either...

Denise Gellane's ad review from the LA Times gives the campaign a so-so rating.

It doesn't have a corner on nice beaches and restaurants. And the nude-beach spot is likely to turn off more viewers than it turns on.

The Rat wonders how much serious advertisement and market testing was completed in designing this campaign. It smacks of Boon Rawd's ill-fated Leo beer advertisement showing Thai governors getting getting somewhat "tired and emotional" .. alright.. completely blotto... while hosting a party. Did the ATC leave the research to the advertising company? .. a key mistake in any image creation exercise.

Anyway we will wait and see the result. If memory serves me well, the Hogan ads also attracted similar bad reaction when they were first shown. Hopefully the ATC has at least done their homework on where these ads will be shown. Or the ATC may well have served up a raw prawn on the Australian barbeque.