“So, why don’t you come?”
So Where the BLOODY HELL are you?
This Australian ad caught heck for obscenty in other English speaking parts of the world, but in Japanese it comes out meekly as, “So, why don’t you come?” (で、あなたはどこにいるの？) In Japanese “So, why don’t you come?” ad has been playing twice an hour for the past month on many of the SkyPerfecTV channels. It’s so bloody mild sounding in Japanese I didn’t even notice it for the first week it ran even though I had read all about it before it started being aired here in Japan.
For more information, read the Sunday Mail: Japanese fall out of love with Australia
Or, visit Australia’s crappy, Flash-infested Japanese site at australia.jp Sheeee-it, doesn’t Australia have any laws against building government websites that prevent handicapped persons from using such a Flash-fouled site?
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June 6th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
I’ve never seen that ad before, but I just went to The Advertiser site to read the full article. Actually, the “So, why don’t you come?” translation is exactly what I would expect the original to be interpreted as. And as such, I think the effect of the ad is the same. But that’s just me, I guess…
June 6th, 2006 at 7:58 pm
The original Australian sounds more fun to me. To folks in the US, “bloody” doesn’t have any obscene/sacreligious meaning so the ad is fine.
June 6th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
From memory, the tourism board of Australia is not exactly a government body, but is affiliated. Much like the road maintenance bodies. So that may explain why there isn’t any accessibility standards on the website. But that doesn’t excuse it.
Of course, it could just be that Australia doesn’t want any blind or disabled people to visit the country, so they’re taking measures to discourage it.
DISCLAIMER: i am a bitter and cynical australian.
June 6th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
Sorry Chidade, I get spoiled by the BBC and EU tourism sites which follow accessibility standards. Of course, lawless Japan has NO accessibility standards for websites (or trains, buildings, etc.) at all so I should not complain.