Lara problems ... the ad featuring Sydney model Lara Bingle has proved controversial. Picture: Toby Zerna
FIRST it was "bloody", then it was "hell" and now it's "beer" that's tripping up an Australian tourism advertising campaign.
The recently launched and now controversial advertisement which concludes with the tagline "Where the bloody hell are you?" has now run foul of the Canadian regulator. But it's not the tagline that's the trouble this time as much as the opener: "I've bought you a beer".
Tourism Minister Fran Bailey said she had been told by Canadian authorities they could not accept that line.
"We now have the Canadian authorities not wanting us to use the opening segment of `I've bought you a beer'," Ms Bailey said in Melbourne.
"The Canadian regulator says that this implies consumption of unbranded alcohol.
"I have to say that I find this quite astonishing."
Ms Bailey clarified that it was not beer consumption itself that was causing the problem for the Canadians but the fact the beer was unbranded. "That's some sort of quirky Canadian regulation," she said.
Ms Bailey said the regulator was not troubled by the ad's closing tagline, which they found "warm and friendly and inviting".
Even so, the Canadian regulator would not allow the ad to be shown during a children's Easter program because of the final line.
However, the ad had never been scheduled to be shown then anyway, Ms Bailey said.
Ms Bailey said it was likely the opening sequence would be replaced with different but equally warm and friendly footage – not involving references to unbranded beer – to get around the problem.
Earlier today, Canadian Broadcasting Corp spokeswoman Ruth Soles said on ABC radio her network had imposed its own restrictions on the advertisement.
Ms Soles said the word "hell" might offend viewers who tune in to a particular family viewing timeslot.
Last week, Britain's advertising regulator objected to the word "bloody".
But they relented after Ms Bailey flew to the UK and lobbed on their doorstep to argue the case.
Ms Bailey said she had been told in London the controversy had itself generated "millions of pounds" worth of free publicity.
"As far as this particular Canadian regulator is concerned, I'd love him to come out here and I'll buy him a beer and say thank-you," she said.
Ms Bailey declined to say what sort of beer she would offer the Canadians.
The advertising campaign is due to be aired in Canada within the next month.
