2019 has been full of twists and turns, and it seems fitting that the year is ending on a final unexpected note in the form of a new Tourism Australia ad campaign starring Kylie Minogue.
Dubbed ‘Matesong’, this three-minute advertisement from Tourism Australia puts Kylie Minogue as the face and voice for the country as she (and Adam Hills) sing about all the good things to be found Down Under, such as beaches, cricket, Ash Barty, good ol’ Aussie grub, and of course, quokkas.
Tourism Australia certainly went all out for this campaign and the result is an ad that’s colourful and full of great production value (the campaign reportedly costs $15 million). But in sticking with one of the storylines that have emerged in 2019 – i.e people complaining about stuff – folks have found things to dislike about this Kylie Minogue-starring ad.
Complaints have ranged over how Australia doesn’t look anything like what’s depicted in the ad thanks to the bushfires, and the overabundance of white people being an inaccurate reflection of Australia’s multiculturalism.
Those complaints aren’t completely without merit but here’s the thing, Tourism Australia didn’t get Kylie Minogue to make something that Aussies will like. The whole point of this campaign is to lure Brits who are well and truly done with the whole Brexit thing over to Australia.
‘Matesong’ isn’t aimed at you, Aussies.
If Tourism Australia didn’t splash out the millions to get Kylie Minogue onboard to make ‘Matesong’, the same people whinging about the ad would be complaining about why we don’t have a booming tourism sector.
‘Matesong’ was never going to please all Aussies regardless of how good it is nor was that its intention, which renders all the complaints moot. So let’s just take the ad for what it is and move onto other things worth arguing about, like Star Wars or something.
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