British broadcasting authorities have banned an advertisement promoting Australian tourism due to the use of “unsavory” and “untoward” language. The advert, which was due to air from March 14, features a bikini-clad young lady, who utters the words, "So where the bloody hell are you?" as an invitation for Brits to venture Down Under. The colorful commercial features all of the trappings you’d expect from an Aussie holiday ad – secluded beaches, pristine ocean, aboriginal dancing and invitations for beer. However, the stiff upper lips of advertising watchdogs deemed the slogan slightly too offensive for delicate British ears, hence the ban. The ad will be shown in full, uncensored, in cinemas, in print and online in the UK.

Australia’s Tourism Minister Fran Bailey is mystified by the ban, which she believes is comical. She said Britain’s regulators were “out of touch” She added that research indicated: “The British are loving our cheeky sense of humor”. Tourism supremo Scott Morrison is similarly flabbergasted at the prudishness of the Brits, although he is happy deep down as he said the ban was “a marketer’s dream”. It has given his campaign unprecedented publicity. However, some Aussies welcome the ban. Queensland premier Peter Beattie said the “profanities” were a “dreadful gaffe”. Another politician said the use of the term “bloody hell” was inappropriate. He stated: “People can usually say those things to somebody they know well…in this instance, we’re talking to strangers of a different culture who I think may be offended.”

WARM-UPS

1. MY COUNTRY: Write down the five top reasons for a tourist to visit your country and five reasons why a tourist might be disappointed in your country. Share what you wrote down with your partner(s).

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Broadcasting / advertisements / tourism / Australia / bad language / secluded beaches / beer / stiff upper lips / comical things / dreams / different cultures

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

3. ADVERTISING: With your partner(s), talk about what advertisers need to be careful with when creating a TV commercial. There are some points below to help. How do you think these points might differ from country to country?

Language Similarity to other ads Use of people’s race / color Religion Exposure of the human body

History The use of animals Talking about other countries Making fun of politicians or royalty Blood

4. MEDIA: In pairs / groups, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using the following media to advertise a product or service:

Television Internet Radio Sporting events

Newspapers Movies Billboard posters Leaflets handed out in the street

5. TV COMMERCIAL OPINIONS: Do you agree with the following opinions about TV commercials? Talk about them with your partner(s).

1. TV commercials are the greatest form of advertising.
2. TV commercials will always make the advertiser sell lots of products or services.
3. Some TV commercials are better than TV programmes.
4. The adverts from my country are better than those from other countries.
5. I hate TV commercials.
6. It’s OK to use a little bad language in TV commercials.
7. TV commercials are often full of lies about the things they advertise.
8. TV channels that have no commercials are best.

6. TOURISM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “tourism”. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	British TV execs banned an Australian ad because of bad language.	T / F
b.	A slogan in the ad for Australian tourism refers to blood.	T / F
c.	Britain’s advertising watchdogs seem to have stiff upper lips.	T / F
d.	British people can see the banned ad in cinemas and in newspapers.	T / F
e.	Australia’s tourism minister said the ban was mystical.	T / F
f.	An Aussie tourism executive is flabbergasted at the Brits’ prudishness.	T / F
g.	The leader of an Australian state said the ban was a terrible mistake.	T / F
h.	Another politician said no one would be offended by the slogan.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	authorities	things
b.	untoward	unheard of
c.	trappings	immaculate
d.	pristine	bewildered
e.	deemed	expletives
f.	mystified	officials
g.	flabbergasted	dire
h.	unprecedented	astonished
i.	profanities	improper
j.	dreadful	adjudged

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	due to the use of	of advertising watchdogs
b.	So where the bloody	uncensored, in cinemas
c.	features all of the trappings you’d	by the ban
d.	the stiff upper lips	expect from an Aussie holiday ad
e.	The ad will be shown in full,	prudishness of the Brits
f.	mystified	“unsavory” and “untoward” language
g.	The British are loving our cheeky	gaffe
h.	flabbergasted at the	hell are you?
i.	a dreadful	who I think may be offended
j.	strangers of a different culture	sense of humor

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the gaps in the text.

British TV bans Australian tourism ad

British broadcasting ________ have banned an advertisement promoting Australian tourism due to the use of “________” and “untoward” language. The advert, which was due to air from March 14, features a bikini-________ young lady, who ________ the words, "So where the bloody hell are you?" as an invitation for Brits to venture Down Under. The colorful commercial features all of the trappings you’d expect from an Aussie holiday ad – ________ beaches, pristine ocean, aboriginal dancing and invitations for beer. However, the stiff upper lips of advertising ________ deemed the slogan ________ too offensive for delicate British ears, hence the ban. The ad will be shown in full, ________, in cinemas, in print and online in the UK.		clad secluded authorities uncensored utters slightly unsavory watchdogs
Australia’s Tourism Minister Fran Bailey is ________ by the ban, which she believes is comical. She said Britain’s ________ were “out of touch” She added that research indicated: “The British are loving our cheeky sense of humor”. Tourism ________ Scott Morrison is similarly flabbergasted at the prudishness of the Brits, although he is happy deep down as he said the ban was “a marketer’s ________”. It has given his campaign unprecedented publicity. However, some Aussies ________ the ban. Queensland premier Peter Beattie said the “profanities” were a “dreadful gaffe”. Another politician said the use of the term “bloody hell” was ________. He stated: “People can usually say those things to somebody they know well…in this ________, we’re talking to strangers of a different culture who I think may be ________.”		welcome supremo offended inappropriate mystified dream instance regulators

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

British TV bans Australian tourism ad

British broadcasting authorities have ________ an advertisement promoting Australian tourism due to the use of “________” and “untoward” language. The advert, which was due to air from March 14, features a bikini-clad young lady, who ________ the words, "So where the bloody hell are you?" as an invitation for Brits to venture Down Under. The colorful commercial features all of the ________ you’d expect from an Aussie holiday ad – secluded beaches, ________ ocean, aboriginal dancing and invitations for beer. However, the stiff upper lips of advertising watchdogs deemed the slogan slightly too ________ for ________ British ears, hence the ban. The ad will be shown in full, uncensored, in cinemas, in print and online in the UK.

Australia’s Tourism Minister Fran Bailey is ________ by the ban, which she believes is comical. She said Britain’s regulators were “out of touch” She added that research indicated: “The British are loving our ________ sense of humor”. Tourism supremo Scott Morrison is similarly ______________ at the prudishness of the Brits, although he is happy deep down as he said the ban was “a marketer’s dream”. It has given his campaign ______________ publicity. However, some Aussies welcome the ban. Queensland premier Peter Beattie said the “profanities” were a “dreadful ________”. Another politician said the use of the term “bloody hell” was inappropriate. He stated: “People can usually say those things to somebody they know well…in this ________, we’re talking to strangers of a different culture who I think may be ________.”

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘bloody’ and ‘hell’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT “TV COMMERCIAL” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about TV commercials.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

promoting air clad trappings stiff full

comical touch similarly unprecedented gaffe instance

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
2. What do you think of the slogan in the Aussie ad?
3. What is your understanding of the terms “bloody” and “bloody hell”?
4. Why do you think TV bosses have banned the ad but cinemas and newspapers haven’t?
5. Do you think British people are prudish?
6. Do you think in the twenty-first century it’s OK to use a word in a TV ad that was offensive 100 years ago?
7. Do you know of any ads that have been banned in your country?
8. How much of a “marketer’s dream” do you think the ban is?
9. Do you think the words “bloody hell” were used for their shock value, for humor, or because it is a natural part of Australian speech?
10. What would be the trappings of an ad promoting your country’s tourist industry?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What do you think about what you read?
3. Why do you think the Australian tourism minister described the ban as “comical”?
4. What do you think of the British sense of humor?
5. Do you feel comfortable using the bad or foul words from English or other languages?
6. Do you think understanding bad, foul, risqué, profane language is an important part of language learning?
7. Do you think British and Australian people are from different cultures?
8. Would you be more offended by the use of language that was considered bad many generations ago or a bikini-clad lady in an ad?
9. What’s the biggest gaffe you’ve ever made?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
2. Was there a question you didn’t like?
3. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
4. What did you like talking about?
5. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

ADVERTISING STANDARDS: In pairs / groups, discuss whether the following ads are acceptable or not. Make a mini presentation that you will give to the advertising standards commission about each ad.

Ad	Comments for your presentation
1.    AUSTRALIAN TOURISM A farmer is standing in front of Ayers Rock, holding a can of beer. He says, “Come to Australia. It’s a much better place than New Zealand.”
2.    BAN FUR A baby polar bear is being seen clubbed to death and skinned. There’s a lot of blood. Slogan: “Bloody fashion”
3.    HAMBURGER RESTAURANT Slogan: “There’s tons of cholesterol in our high calorie burgers… and boy do they taste GOOD!!”
4.     LANGUAGE SCHOOL Slogan: “Study with out new method and be fluent in two and a half weeks.”
5.    ARMY RECRUITMENT: The backdrop is a warplane dropping hundreds of bombs on a densely populated city. A man’s voice says: “Help fight for peace.”
6.    “YUM” CHOCOLTATE BAR: God is talking to his friend. He says: “And on the eighth day I made Yum chocolate.”

Change partners and talk about what you wrote with your previous partner(s).

Give your presentations.

Discuss what was said in each presentation and vote on the best ones.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. TOURISM: Make a poster advertising the delights of your country. Include all the things you want visitors to see. Show your poster to your classmates in the next lesson. Which poster(s) did you like most and why?

3. THE SAME? Write an essay on the differences between Britons, Australians, Americans, Canadians and New Zealanders? Are they all the same? Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Did everyone have similar thoughts?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. F

c. T

d. T

e. F

f. T

g. F

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	authorities	officials
b.	untoward	improper
c.	trappings	things
d.	pristine	immaculate
e.	deemed	adjudged
f.	mystified	bewildered
g.	flabbergasted	astonished
h.	unprecedented	unheard of
i.	profanities	expletives
j.	dreadful	dire

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	due to the use of	“unsavory” and “untoward” language
b.	So where the bloody	hell are you?
c.	features all of the trappings you’d	expect from an Aussie holiday ad
d.	the stiff upper lips	of advertising watchdogs
e.	The ad will be shown in full,	uncensored, in cinemas
f.	mystified	by the ban
g.	The British are loving our cheeky	sense of humor
h.	flabbergasted at the	prudishness of the Brits
i.	a dreadful	gaffe
j.	strangers of a different culture	who I think may be offended

GAP FILL:

British TV bans Australian tourism ad

British broadcasting authorities have banned an advertisement promoting Australian tourism due to the use of “unsavory” and “untoward” language. The advert, which was due to air from March 14, features a bikini-clad young lady, who utters the words, "So where the bloody hell are you?" as an invitation for Brits to venture Down Under. The colorful commercial features all of the trappings you’d expect from an Aussie holiday ad – secluded beaches, pristine ocean, aboriginal dancing and invitations for beer. However, the stiff upper lips of advertising watchdogs deemed the slogan slightly too offensive for delicate British ears, hence the ban. The ad will be shown in full, uncensored, in cinemas, in print and online in the UK.

Australia’s Tourism Minister Fran Bailey is mystified by the ban, which she believes is comical. She said Britain’s regulators were “out of touch” She added that research indicated: “The British are loving our cheeky sense of humor”. Tourism supremo Scott Morrison is similarly flabbergasted at the prudishness of the Brits, although he is happy deep down as he said the ban was “a marketer’s dream”. It has given his campaign unprecedented publicity. However, some Aussies welcome the ban. Queensland premier Peter Beattie said the “profanities” were a “dreadful gaffe”. Another politician said the use of the term “bloody hell” was inappropriate. He stated: “People can usually say those things to somebody they know well…in this instance, we’re talking to strangers of a different culture who I think may be offended.”

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