Don’t Chop The Dinosaur, Daddy is not even close to being a good ad

For Australians in my age bracket – let’s say between 25 and 40 – the commercials that we grew up with are seared into our collective memory.

To this day when someone asks me what I want for dinner, a little voice in my head replies in sing-song: “I feel like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight.”

The verdict: Confusion and speculation are not the hallmarks of a successful ad.Credit:

Walking into a Good Guys store, I instinctively know that if I pay cash, they will slash the prices. Years from now I may not remember my name, but you know what I won’t ever forget? Lube Mobile’s phone number. Firteen, firty, firty-two.

The power of these ads endures because they transport us to a simpler time, a time when watching television meant you actually had to sit and watch the television. The net result of being a captive audience is that we have established an agreed-upon canon of Great Australian Ads.

The aforementioned examples have earned their place in the commercial canon, so too Yellow Pages’ “Not Happy, Jan”, McCain’s “Marge the rains are ere” and AAMI’s will-they-won’t-they love story between Rhonda (Mandy McElhinney) and Ketut (Kadek Mahardika).

But among these undeniable classics, it seems a pretender has managed to sneak into the conversation: The Natural Confectionery Company’s “Don’t Chop The Dinosaur, Daddy!”

You know the one, it first aired in 2005 and features an adorable blonde girl and her father in their kitchen. Dad is in the middle of making a healthy salad when his daughter interrupts him (rude) with a packet of Natural Confectionery Company lollies. Weirdly, he chops a snake in half for them to share (are they rationing these lollies?) and the pair discuss the benefits of The Natural Confectionery Company brand (no artificial colours, no artificial flavours, 99 per cent fat-free!).

But when the father goes to halve the dinosaur, well, that’s when we get the allegedly iconic line: “Don’t chop the dinosaur, Daddy!?”

While undertaking research for this expose (asking all my different WhatsApp threads what their favourite classic Australian ad is), there were an alarming number of votes for “Don’t Chop The Dinosaur, Daddy”. To make matters worse, the replies came with positive feedback: “Oh, the little girl is so cute!” “What an iconic line!” “They’re my favourite lollies!”

No one is arguing that The Natural Confectionery Company lollies aren’t great (they are), or that the little girl isn’t cute (she is), but the ad is at best, ordinary, at worst, lazy.

Firstly, it’s easy to sell lollies to people, everyone already likes lollies. What’s truly impressive is getting an entire generation jazzed about bananas like the kids in the “Make Those Bodies Sing” campaign managed to do.

Originally released in 1994, “Make Those Bodies Sing” was a huge success, not to mention a remarkable earworm (BA-NAH-NAH-NAH-NAH!), and Australian Bananas still uses the catchphrase to this day.

“Make Those Bodies Sing” isn’t even our best ad featuring bananas, that honour goes to the baritone Banana Boat baby (Banana Boat, it’s 30+), but the campaign offered a blueprint for how to make a classic ad: Keep it simple, have a catchy jingle and a positive message.

Meanwhile, “Don’t Chop The Dinosaur, Daddy!” is full of mixed messages. The dinosaur (extinct) can’t be chopped, but the snake (endangered, probably) is fair game. It’s also worth noting that the ad ends with the daughter instructing her father to “Chop it!” at least that what we think she says – but the word is hard to make out.

Cut through: For reasons unknown, “Don’t Chop The Dinosaur, Daddy” is a popular commercial.

In fact, there is an entire thread online dedicated to trying to decipher what she means: Chop it? Drop it? Stop it? Confusion and speculation are not the hallmarks of a successful ad. I hate to return to the Lube Mobile boy (I don’t really), but even with his lisp, there is no mistaking that number: Firteen, firty, firty two.

Despite these fundamental flaws, “Don’t Chop The Dinosaur, Daddy” has reached a level of awareness that, while unwarranted, is hard to ignore. The commercial is a regular inclusion on internet listicles such as “17 Most Iconic Aussie Ads Ever”, or “28 Australian TV Ads That’ll Hit You With All Kinds Of Nostalgia”.

Meanwhile, the titular catchphrase has managed to seep into our national consciousness even though it has no meaning. If you’re a particularly passionate fan of the ad, Australian clothing retailer Lonely Kids Club has recently released a “Don’t Chop The Dinosaur, Daddy” slogan tee.

I, for one, would prefer to wear a “Not Happy, Jan” shirt, at least that slogan morphed into something bigger. The Yellow Pages ad was released in 2000 and it is a testament to Deborah Kennedy’s delivery that more than 20 years later “not happy, Jan” remains a hilarious way to let someone know you’re unimpressed.

During this investigation, I considered getting in touch with the two stars of the ad. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any information about the man who plays the father, beyond comment on a YouTube video that read, “That’s my cousin Paul lol.”

There is far more available about the young actress, real name Joanna Hunt-Prokhovnik. In the same year, the ad was released, Joanna was nominated for an AFI award for Best Young Actress after appearing in the 2005 Australian feature film Three Dollars, alongside David Wenham and Frances O’Connor. But it seems Joanna is no longer in the entertainment industry.

Ultimately, the blame doesn’t lie at the feet of young Joanna and the man who may be cousin Paul. It is our fault for rushing to canonise a commercial that was all bells, whistles and cute smiles, but offered little in the way of true substance.

And to that, I say, not happy, Jan.

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