Was the Premier trying to recreate this successful ad campaign?
Trade Minister Simon Crean take note – this is how NOT to promote Australia! Premier Anna Bligh has come in for criticism today over new ads promoting holidays in Queensland, featuring Australian immigrants who were the finalists for the Best Job in the World.
The $5 million ad is meant to promote domestic tourism but also seems to encourage immigration to Australia by featuring four of the finalists for the Best Job in the World, in four separate ads, that all run to the theme tune of The Monkees, with the words changing to “Hey hey this is Queensland!�
The start of each ad has one of the finalists saying: “We came here for the best job in the world,� they then go on to say how they’ve found the best beaches/lifestyle/outdoors in the world. The Monkees tune is played with the words changed and ends with another finalist saying, “This is the best holiday in the world!�
The Best Job in the World was promoted earlier this year and the position was to be caretaker of Hamilton Island for 6 months. That privilege went to Brit Ben Southall. A staggering 34,000 people applied for the position and Mr Southall was chosen from among 16 finalists.
It’s four of those finalists who feature on the Queensland ads. They are James Hill, a Queensland native, Magali Heuberger from the Netherlands, Mirjam Novak from Germany and George Karellas from Ireland.
At the time, the worldwide search for applicants for the Best Job in the World was a huge tourism success and generated US$70m of global publicity. Perhaps Ms Bligh is trying to capitalise upon that previous success.
Ms Bligh was forced to defend her decision from a barrage of criticism by saying: “I can guarantee it will have everyone smiling, tapping their toes and singing along,�
The public however, are not convinced, for within minutes of the Cairn Post posting the ads, readers were quick to express their disgust, with an online poll showing 78 per cent of readers didn’t care for the ads at all. Here are just a few of the comments:
“Hey hey, its the monkey state & our premier Anna BLiar has totally lost her bananas.â€? Al from The Gold Coast.ÂÂ
“How embarassingâ€? Michael from Brisbane.ÂÂ
“More rubbish from Bligh… Hope they didn’t really pay for that!â€? Pablo from Not in Queens-Monkey-Land.
Perhaps Ms Bligh was hoping to win a prize for the worst ad in the world? You can watch the controversial ad here, don’t forget to send us your comments!
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