Paul Hogan – Shrimp on the Barbie

Imagine that you are the creator of the Paul Hogan ‘Shrimp on the Barbie’ ad. Evaluate the effectiveness of this ad in exploring a ‘realistic representation of Australia. -Explain the vision you had for this ad and how it represents Australia in a realistic way and comment on your use of stereotypes. -Evaluate the effectiveness of your choice of elements (I’m guessing this meaner techniques, such as camera shots and angles, symbolism, color symbolism, Juxtaposition and colloquial language) and the impact it has on the audience.

Reflect on how successful you have been in creating your advertisement and outline any challenges you faced. The ‘Shrimp on the Barbie’ ad, featuring Paul Hogan, was aired twenty-nine years ago, and yet it is still the most memorable tourism campaign ever launched by a foreign country in the USA. When you mention Australia to Americans one of the first things that comes to their mind is this advertisement and most people can recall the phrase “throw a shrimp on the Barbie”.

Actually the phrase has become so well known that hat it is hard to see how it was able to reach this level of recognition and retention when marketing technologies in those days were far from modern global ‘present everywhere’ sophisticated media. Considering the relatively modest penetration of advertising in the past, the Paul Hogan ‘Shrimp on the Barbie’ ad was very effective in doing what it was made to do which envisioned the ad to become popular in the US to promote tourism in Australia. Without a doubt this was done very successfully.

In the perception of many Americans, Australia was regarded as a very different, assistant place, with different, sometimes bizarre way of life. The typical stereotypes about Australia widespread in America included a strange accent with specific slang, barbeques everywhere and every time, kangaroos Jumping all around, wrestling crocodiles, laid back and casually dressed people, dangerous looking Aboriginal people and so on. My ad used references to several of these stereotypes such as showing wildlife, desert and beach landscapes and of course Australian way of talk including the famous phrase of “throw a shrimp on the Barbie”.

The barbeques in question featured Paul Hogan on a yacht in Sydney Harbor, looking relaxed, wearing casual dress, surrounded by women wearing bikinis and men wearing Just pants. He was obviously enjoying such company and was inviting others to Join him and taste his hospitality. To broaden the appeal Paul Hogan was in the desert and also on the beach trying to show some of the things that the tourists may be able to experience here. Among them would be Sydney Harbor Bridge, Sydney Opera House, Centre Point Tower and other landmarks throughout Australia.

Throughout the video, I have used the element of colloquial language best embodied in the line of throw another shrimp on the Barbie’. Since the advertisement was aired, this line has been associated with Australia even though ‘shrimp’ is an American word tort ‘prawn ‘. The reason tort this was to avoid contusion between the two words and therefore use the American version; creating the impression that Americans are warmly welcome and will feel at home in Australia.

The varied use of camera angles including high, low and straight, have been useful in representing efferent views and perspectives on Australia, showing the dominance if filmed from a low angle, inferior if filmed from a high angle and even if filmed straight. Camera shots have been utilized in the sense to focus on a main point of interest or emphasis an object that is significant through long medium and close up shots. Example, when Paul Hogan was talking to the audience, the shot was a close up, which can also be described as a demanding gaze as when he was looking the audience straight in the eye requiring attention.

The application of color symbolism as been used to change the atmosphere as the lack of saturation and use of brightness creates an illusion of happiness and exhilaration, making people want to come to Australia. At the start of the video, the desert and beach have been put right next to each other in slides; the purpose of this was to show the diversity of the different habitats and landscapes. Overall the use of all these elements/techniques have been very successful as they have put in the minds of the audience that Australia is an exotic country which would be a top of the list holiday destination.

Creating the advertisement was not an easy task that required a few days, it took time and consideration of all the different things that should be included into the video such as the way to manipulate the different stereotypes and use the different elements in an effective way. A few of the challenges, I faced was the suggestion of Americans might not be able to understand what ‘prawn’ meant which then changed into ‘shrimp’ and what persona to chose which would represent Australia and at the same time be well-known in America and therefore appealing to American audience.