out of the way, sheep shagger!
In which I (again) play into the hands of the robed-in-black-turtle-necks-shaven-headed-germanic-designer-glasses-wearing admen and women by discussing a recent advert playing on TV here in New Zealand. I would imagine if they are worth their salt they’ll be busy monitoring Technorati and/or Google for mentions of their creative output (not dissimilar to the average blogger in that sense) so if so, hello.
Anyway, the title refers to the new advert for the Toyota Hilux. The Hilux of course is beloved by farmers across Australasia – my father’s one is referred to by the family as “the blue dog” as it seems to be used more as a huntaway than a means of transportation.
So any adverts for the Hilux need to reflect the humour of the target demographic. Which, by no great coincidence, also appeals greatly to the rest of the country. Several years ago this lead to the rather good bugger advert.
They’ve done better this time. You can see it on the Toyota NZ website, or download it here and view it with a flv player. Basically a pair of bulls steal a farmer’s new Hilux to go off looking for some hot cow action. Which of course they find (“Hello ladies. Fancy a ride?”) but not before causing assorted mayhem around the farm.
There’s a lot of interesting readings in this ad. Are the bulls symbolic of the aspirations and desires of the average Hilux user? They’re fairly laconic, and fond of the ladies (reminiscent of the Speight’s Southern men, only more heterosexual). Perhaps the Hilux will let you score more, down on the farm (on the other hand, don’t pursue that line too far!).
Or, given the rather Australian sounding voices of the bulls, does the scene in which they tell the ram to “Get out of the way, sheep-shagger!” actually become a political statement on relationships between Aussies and Kiwis?
Nahhh. It’s just a laugh, right?
(Update: More from me on these burning issues on this page.)
house_monkey
28 April 2005, 12:52 #
Annyong!
nycgirl
28 April 2005, 13:34 #
I’m so happy you’re talking about this, As an advertising student i’m positive they’re going to make me pull this ad apart and discuss every characteristic of it. The thing is that if the bulls are australian and they’re making fun of the sheep shagging thing part of the target audience become alienated because that would make some of them kinda angry, yeah its a total laugh there is some underlying stuff there as well. Oh and i’m so glad you pointed out the homosexuality of the speights boys.
Alan
28 April 2005, 13:35 #
I do seem to be pimping televisual entertainment, after all, so that statement does make a little sense.
house_monkey
28 April 2005, 13:37 #
Steve Holt!
MiramarMike
28 April 2005, 14:34 #
Hee hee … just a laugh, for someone.
Quite humorous though
Jessie
28 April 2005, 16:49 #
Hey! That was me… Alan, the form is remembering other people’s details again..
Jessie
28 April 2005, 16:50 #
Oh dear.. my original comment isn’t appearing at all.. the preview thing.. sorry. Confuzzled.
llew
28 April 2005, 17:00 #
Ah yes… the speights boys…
Excellent posting Alan.
I will have to look out for this advertisement.
llew
28 April 2005, 17:05 #
And that’s like… that book… was it The Grapes of Wrath? Or was it Spencer’s Mountain, an old Henry Fonda film that inspired the Waltons (the writer only had one story in him…
Anyway… let’s assume it was both.
A boy from one farm takes the family cow down the road to another farm to be serviced by the neighbour’s bull. There, he & the teenage daughter of the family that owns the bull are assigned to watch over the proceedings.
After a little while, the boy sneaks a look at the attractive teenager next to him & says “Wish I was doing that”.
The girl shoots back “Nothing to stop you, it’s your cow.”
Alan
28 April 2005, 17:32 #
NYCGirl – my response was to house_monkey – the order is a little confusing. That last Speight’s ad in which the “boy” ignores the girl in favour of spending more time with that old bloke clinched the “Gay Speight’s” theory for me. Whereas those two bulls are a little more focussed in their pursuit of female companionship.
I’m irritated by the Australian sounding voices probably because it makes it sound like the boys and girls at Saatchis wanted to do one ad to cover both markets (like they did with the “Bugger” ad – even though that bloke only says that one word, he’s unmistakeably Ocker). And I get enough of the “NZ is just a branch economy of Australia” attitude thing at work without getting it at home as well.
And there’s that possible sheep-shagger subtext. :-)
Patrick
28 April 2005, 20:14 #
I hope that wasn’t an anti black turtle neck comment at the top of that post…
(er, at least my hair isn’t shaved off, I’m not in advertising, and I don’t think my glasses were germanic-designed :))
Alan
28 April 2005, 21:14 #
Actually, I have at least one of my own, and my glasses are (or rather were) trendy euro designed ones.
I was just trying out a new stereotype. :-)
Martha
29 April 2005, 14:32 #
Umm Alan, I’m not sure whether it is just my piece of pus computer, but I can’t see your links. The white bit that the comments are on stretches out and covers them up. I can just glimpse where they would be if I could see them…
nycgirl
29 April 2005, 15:17 #
apparently the old speights guy is in fact gay in real life, someone told me that today when we were discussing your post.
Alan
29 April 2005, 17:04 #
Martha: what browser are you using? My layout does do funny things in IE5.
NYCGirl: I didn’t know that. But what I have noticed about this new ad is the way it references a couple (and possibly more) older Hilux ads. Particularly the flying bit is lifted from a Scotty and Crumpy ad from the eighties; while the smashed-up chook house you can also see as an smashed-up outhouse in the “Bugger” advert. Don’t know if this is deliberate or not.
Ben
30 April 2005, 01:10 #
New ad? I guess that would be something on TV, haven’t seen that for a few years. Might have a go at downloading the ad though to see what its all about. At least I’ll only have to see it once not every 13.5 minutes :-)
Ben.
Mr Reasonable
30 April 2005, 12:10 #
Top Gear tried to kill a Toyota Hilux once. The full video is here and it is the best advert for one of these brutes that you could imagine:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/prog28/toyota.shtml
llew
19 May 2005, 18:02 #
You have seen the latest Speights ad? Chin chin!
colin
26 May 2005, 01:05 #
verry funny i here
Rob
26 May 2005, 22:36 #
Lighten up people – it is only an ad. The underlying meanings are your interpretation and yours only. However leave the remarks of the aussies out of it – it was actually made by a new zealander…go figure. We here loved it and think that it is very typical of the Aussie/NZ rivalry…end trans
Alan
31 May 2005, 18:03 #
True, it is only an ad. But ads generally reflect the culture in which they are made; and so analysing it in that context is appropriate.
Plus it’s funny as hell.
Alan Way
1 June 2005, 16:07 #
I guess I’m not worth my salt, I didn’t find you via Google or Technorati, rather by reviewing our webserver logs for people linking to our site :-)
We’re glad to see the reaction to the ad is mostly positive. The HiLux ads have a long history here in NZ, and a lot to live up to.
Oh and I can confirm that the bulls are actually New Zealand bulls, not Australian. ;-)
Regards,
Alan Way
Webmaster
Toyota New Zealand
Jenny
1 June 2005, 23:52 #
This ad is doing the email rounds now (I’m in Sydney, Australia) – and I must admit I got a good laugh out of it! I was prompted to google for more info about it though (hence my posting on this site) only because the voices of the bulls do sound VERY familiar to me and I was wondering if anyone knew who they were??
Cheers
Alan
2 June 2005, 07:19 #
Alan: I’m sure you’re worth your salt – I have to say that in case any of the many local webmasters I know read this and decide to have a, er, “chat” with me. As you can see from Jenny’s comment, the ad is doing the rounds far and wide. Oh, and I know the bulls are from NZ, it’s the voices that (I’m almost certain) are Australian, just like the “farmer” in the Bugger ad.
Jenny: Hmmm, I was wondering why I was getting so many Google hits from Australia given that the ad hasn’t been shown anywhere else yet. And I’m with you – I know the voices too, I’m just having trouble placing them. Maybe Alan the Toyota Webmaster knows…
aaron
5 June 2005, 22:47 #
show me the fucking ad
Johnny
10 June 2005, 18:14 #
very nice
Jenny
10 June 2005, 22:28 #
Ahhh, when people ask so nicely it’s just a pleasure to respond, isn’t it folks?
A link to the ad was actually provided, near the top of the page, but the darned thing is hiding inside a sentence.
So here it is, nice and clear for Aaron and all the other beginner readers out there.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE AD
or if that one doesn’t work on your machine go to the Toyota NZ Website then click on the Hilux links.
You’re welcome!
Alan
11 June 2005, 15:43 #
Thanks Jenny – I resisted rising to the troll-bait myself, but you’ve handled it nicely. :-)
Jenny
17 June 2005, 18:01 #
Hi Alan,
Thank you for the thank you!
I was just checking back to see if anyone had worked out who the voices on the ad belong to…After watching Finding Nemo again the other night I think the driver bull’s voice was reminding me of Bruce the Shark – a.k.a. Barry Humphries.
Alan
18 June 2005, 01:50 #
Well, I have it on good authority that the actors used are Kiwis… but likely to be people used to working both sides of the ditch, because they did sound Aussie to me. So therefore rather unlikely to be Barry Humphreys. Or Les, Edna, and definitely not Madge.
josh
16 September 2005, 18:08 #
i love that ad show it to me you nob
Alan
16 September 2005, 19:46 #
Perhaps if you actually read what I wrote above, you’d find it.
Just a suggestion.
Marg Breuer
11 January 2006, 22:29 #
As aussies living in NZ my husband and I love this ad. We didn’t pick up on the bulls having accents. No it was just great fun and the pc correct brigade would never let it be shown in Oz. Just the same as there would never be ads about “The Drover’s Boy”
Allan Gray
23 July 2006, 23:31 #
Love the ad wont to show it to some aussie mates
susie
13 September 2007, 23:56 #
Psych student here currently analysing advertising and this Hylux ad is one of my fav’s. Could you pls forward a copy, so I may discuss in class.
Susie