• Reuters, Monday, March 20, 2006 12:30 PM

Australia launched a $133 million ad campaign to boost tourism to the country using the saucy tag line, "Where the Bloody Hell Are You?" For starters, not running in England. After initially banning the country's TV commercials for their use of the word bloody, the British regulatory body Broadcasting Advertising Clearance Center has lifted the ban and allowed the ads to run uncensored. The ads are also running in New Zealand and the U.S., and will branch out to Germany, China, India and Japan. Volkswagen found itself in a similar pickle over language used in an outdoor campaign promoting the GTI 2006. The ad shows the car and the word Turbo-Cojones. Cojones means testicles in Spanish, and an ad placed in Miami received numerous complaints, prompting Volkswagen to pull additional ads in New York and Los Angeles. Just goes to show how a slang term in one country can be found offensive outside its original element.

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