Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Less than a week after it was first banned and then cleared for screening in the U.K., an Australian tourism ad featuring a bikini-clad girl asking prospective tourists “Where the Bloody Hell are you?” has been banned in Canada. Ironically, it wasn’t the controversial question — a line described as “warm, friendly and inviting” — that got the ad banned, but its opening: “We’ve poured you a beer.” This line was ruled unacceptable by the Canadian regulator, as it refers to an unbranded beer.

Australian Tourism Minister Fran Bailey was “quite astonished” by the move but has thanked the Canadian government for providing free publicity for the ad, saying, “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.”