"Shrimp on the barbie" is a phrase that originated in a series of television advertisements by the Australian Tourism Commission broadcast in the US and UK starring Paul Hogan from 1984 through to 1990. [1] [2] The full quote spoken by Hogan is "I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you", and the actual slogan of the ad was "Come and say G'day".
The phrase has since been used, along with some variations, to make reference to Australia in popular culture in the US. The phrase is rarely used in Australia. Few use the word "shrimp" in Australia (the word most commonly used is "prawn") and the phrase is often perceived as American.
While Hogan was well known in the Australia from his long-running television comedy show, the advertisement pre-dated Hogan's popularity in America from the 1986 film Crocodile Dundee . However, the success of the film increased the commercial's popularity. [1]
The advertisements were developed by the Australian agency Mojo in conjunction with American agency N. W. Ayer. The campaign was launched during the National Football Conference Championship Game on 8 January 1984. Before the campaign, Australia was approximately number 78 on the "most desired" vacation destination list for Americans, but became number 7 three months after the launch, and soon became number 1 or 2 on Americans' "dream vacation" list, remaining in that position for most of the next two decades. [1]
"Barbie" is Australian slang for BBQ and the phrase "slip a shrimp on the barbie" often evokes images of a fun social gathering under the sun. Australians, however, invariably use the word prawn rather than shrimp . Because the commercial was commissioned for broadcast in the United States, the change was made to limit audience confusion. [1] [2]
The commercial was so influential that three decades later, Australian USC Trojans football player Chris Tilbey reported that he was quoted the "shrimp on the barbie" line "Every day. Every day", [3] and Jesse Mirco of Ohio State said he heard it daily. [4]
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages and qualities of interest to consumers. It is typically used to promote a specific good or service, but there are a wide range of uses, the most common being commercial advertisement.
Dendrobranchiata is a suborder of decapods, commonly known as prawns. There are 540 extant species in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian. They differ from related animals, such as Caridea and Stenopodidea, by the branching form of the gills and by the fact that they do not brood their eggs, but release them directly into the water. They may reach a length of over 330 millimetres (13 in) and a mass of 450 grams (1.0 lb), and are widely fished and farmed for human consumption.
A television advertisement is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. Advertisers and marketers may refer to television commercials as TVCs.
Got Milk? is an American advertising campaign on television and YouTube encouraging the consumption of milk and dairy products. Created by the advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners for the California Milk Processor Board in 1993, it was later licensed for use by milk processors and dairy farmers. It was launched in 1993 by the "Aaron Burr" television commercial, directed by Michael Bay. The national campaign, run by MilkPEP began to add the "got milk?" logo to its "Milk Mustache" ads in 1995.
Paul Hogan is an Australian actor and comedian. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance as outback adventurer Michael "Crocodile" Dundee in Crocodile Dundee (1986), the first in the Crocodile Dundee film series.
Prawn cocktail, also known as shrimp cocktail, is a seafood dish consisting of shelled, cooked prawns in a Marie Rose sauce or cocktail sauce, served in a glass. It was the most popular hors d'œuvre in Great Britain, as well as in the United States, from the 1960s to the late 1980s. According to the English food writer Nigel Slater, the prawn cocktail "has spent most of see-sawing from the height of fashion to the laughably passé" and is now often served with a degree of irony.
Langosta is a Spanish word with different meanings in different areas, most commonly applied to various types of crustacean. In the United States, it is commonly used in the restaurant trade to refer to the meat of the squat lobster, which is neither a true lobster nor a prawn. Squat lobsters are more closely related to porcelain and hermit crabs. Crustaceans labeled as langostino are no more than 8 cm (3 in) long, and weigh no more than 200 g (7 oz). Langostinos are not langoustes despite a similar name. Also, langostinos are sometimes confused with langoustines.
So where the bloody hell are you? was a A$180 million advertising campaign launched by Tourism Australia in 2006. It was created by the Sydney office of advertising agency M&C Saatchi, under the approval of Scott Morrison, who was then managing director of Tourism Australia.
Tourism Australia is the Australian Government agency responsible for promoting Australian locations as business and leisure travel destinations. The agency is a corporate portfolio agency of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and employs 198 staff. It works closely with the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, the Australian Government's tourism policy and program agency, and State and Territory tourism marketing organisations.
The Shrimp on the Barbie, released in Australia as The Boyfriend from Hell, is a 1990 comedy film directed by Michael Gottlieb and starring Cheech Marin. The title is derived from a line in a 1980s series of popular ads starring Paul Hogan promoting tourism to Australia: "I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you". The film was a box office disaster, grossing only 1/10th of its budget.
Toy advertising is the promotion of toys through a variety of media. Advertising campaigns for toys have been criticized for trading on children's naivete and for turning children into premature consumers. Advertising to children is usually regulated to ensure that it meets defined standards of honesty and decency. These rules vary from country to country, with some going as far as banning all advertisements that are directed at children.
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John Joseph Brown AO is a retired Australian politician. He served in the House of Representatives from 1977 to 1990, representing the Division of Parramatta for the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He held ministerial office in the Hawke government as Minister for Administrative Services (1983–1984), Sport, Recreation and Tourism (1983–1987), and Arts, Sport, the Environment, Tourism and Territories (1987).
Mojo was an Australian advertising agency formed in Sydney by Alan Morris ("Mo") and Allan Johnston ("Jo") in 1979. Its lineage can today be traced to the Australian offices of Publicis, an Australian subsidiary of the French multinational advertising and communications company holding Publicis Groupe. Those offices traded as Publicis Mojo from the late 1990s until 2016.
Allan "Jo" Johnston is an Australian advertising creative executive and copywriter who was successful as a jingle writer, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s. He was born in Adelaide, Australia. Together with his long-time business partner Alan Morris, he formed the Australian advertising agency Mojo which enjoyed much Australian and some international success in the 1980s and whose name survived until 2016 as Publicis Mojo, the Australian subsidiary of the French multinational advertising and communications company holding Publicis Groupe.
Alan "Mo" Morris was an Australian advertising creative executive, a copywriter who enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 80s. Together with his long-time business partner Allan Johnston, he formed the Australian advertising agency Mojo which enjoyed much local and some international success in the 1980s and whose name survived till 2016 as Publicis Mojo, the Australian subsidiary of the French multinational advertising and communications company holding Publicis Groupe.
The Japanese technology company, Sony, engaged in a variety of different marketing efforts, as one of the world's largest and most pervasive corporations.
Shrimp and prawn are types of sea animals that are consumed worldwide. Although shrimp and prawns belong to different suborders of Decapoda, they are very similar in appearance and the terms are often used interchangeably in commercial farming and wild fisheries. A distinction is drawn in recent aquaculture literature, which increasingly uses the term "prawn" only for the marine forms of palaemonids and "shrimp" for the marine penaeids.
A shrimp is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – typically belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchiata of the order Decapoda, although some crustaceans outside of this order are also referred to as "shrimp".
Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs, some of which are edible.