SA Tourism Commission gears up summer campaign as Old Mate fallout continues
The fallout from SA’s bemusing new tourism ad continues, with both the Council on the Ageing and the Opposition now criticising it — but Old Mate will soon be retired.
Fallout from the controversial “Old Mate” tourism advertisement continues with the Council on the Ageing blasting it for using a “pathetic old” stereotype and the Opposition criticising the use of a Melbourne advertising agency.
It comes as the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) gears up to release a series of related ads in their spring-summer domestic campaign from this week — but Old Mate will be retired from any more ads.
The summer series starting this week with Old Mate’s debut follows the successful autumn-winter interstate campaign that finished last month and drove record visits to the SATC website.
While Old Mate’s video will run until next January, other ads in the new series will feature award-winning chefs, hip city bars and a young couple getting back to nature.
The Old Mate ad featured a man in his 70s conservatively dressed with waistcoat, jacket, tie and hat visiting highlights of Adelaide. His joy of discovery gradually turns to tears as he realises he has left his first visit a little late in life.
A voiceover then says: “Don’t feel sorry for Old Mate — it’s his own damn fault he didn’t visit Adelaide sooner.”
The pitch to interstate audiences aims to grab attention and get people to visit now rather than leaving Adelaide as a vague “bucket list” visit, SATC officials say.
The bemusing ad has divided viewers, with social media reaction particularly unkind.
Council on the Ageing SA chief executive Jane Mussared said that “far from inspiring, it is gloomy and portrays hopelessness among older people. It doesn’t appeal to a joyful experience in South Australia.
“This isn’t going to win tourists of any age, let alone older travellers who are such a significant and growing segment,” she said.
“The silver dollar is a significant part of the tourism spend, but this ad will be a massive turn-off for them. It uses the ‘pathetic old’ stereotype which, if it was ever true, is no longer.”
Opposition tourism spokeswoman Zoe Bettison labelled the ad “bizarre”.
“What’s worse, it follows the Marshall Liberal Government’s decision to outsource this work to a Victorian agency,” she said. “We need to be doing everything we can to sell South Australia as an attractive destination for tourists, and this ad simply misses the mark.”
SATC data shows the winter campaign resulted in leads to operators from its website www.southaustralia.com reaching 303,614, an increase of 184 per cent for the year, and digital content achieving video plays of 6.2 million and an audience reach of 5.6 million.
April was the biggest-ever month for visits to southaustralia.com by domestic tourists.
Tourism Minister David Ridgway said the coming spring-summer campaign would build on this success.
The spring-summer campaign will run until January and asks interstate audiences to “judge South Australia for themselves” rather than relying on outdated misconceptions, according to SATC.