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Tourism Australia comes under fire from random retired American soldier

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) on May 10th 2009 at 2:00PM

Tourism Australia nailed it. The struggle between work and life is reaching fever pitch. Those with jobs are working harder than ever, thanks to layoffs and a desperate play to look like top performers in case the axe comes down again. It's a battle, sometimes, to take control of your life. This is the theme of Tourism Australia's new campaign, "No Leave, No Life," which drives home the fact that Australians are pissing away their vacation time and aren't giving themselves the time away that they need.

So, the organization modeled a photo on the U.S. Marines (hey, Sydney Morning Herald, marines and soldiers aren't the same thing) raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. You know the original picture. Everyone remembers it. Because everyone is familiar with this iconic photo, it's easy for one to relate to it. That's what makes Tourism Australia's picture of a family "raising" an umbrella particularly brilliant.

Well, there are a few people who would disagree, as you'll see after the jump.

U.S. Army veteran (unless he's really a marine – SMH can't tell the different) Russell Wade wrote to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to complain. He's pissed because it trivializes "an iconic picture of high significance to the American people." Yet, he isn't driven to anger by U.S. Marine commercials that equate fighting in a war to fantasy games in which fictional creatures are the enemy and are vanquished by knights with swords in a manner that implies death with what looks like a simple "zapping."

Before we take Tourism Australia to task for its advertising decisions, let's not forget that the Marines have had a few problems as well ... occasionally seeming culturally tone-deaf.

Okay, back to the contested photos. Both photos were staged, so it really is a posed piece derived from a posed piece. And, it's not like this is the worst instance of borrowing from military history and tradition to entertain, amuse or sell. Hell, where was Wade when Homer Simpson "trivialized" the U.S. Navy?

For that matter, where was he when the Village People did so? It looks like this guy has a shitload of letters to write.

The Village People can model entertainment on the U.S. military. The creators of The Simpsons can take it a step further (as they've done several times with the navy and the army, at this point). And, let's face it. These go a lot deeper than modeling a photograph on a classic ... mind you, a practice common in the arts.

I was a soldier for a while, and I have nothing but respect for those who served honorably. I just wish there could be a better sense of reality and an antidote for self-importance.

Filed under: North America, Oceania, United States, Australia, Video, News

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Zach May 10th 2009 4:06PM

Sure, it is brilliant, because going on a family vacation is obviously as much of a struggle as fighting in the most horrific war ever.

There are some things you should just respect and let be.

Brock May 12th 2009 8:04AM

I was a Navy Seal and this ad is brilliant. Amazing what people will find to be "offended" by. And anyway, the original photo was staged, a total fake. Find something better to get upset about.

Richard May 12th 2009 9:33AM

The original was not staged, go check out the facts before commenting. Only one picture was staged and it was a group shot after the flag was raised.

Daniel May 12th 2009 9:52AM

A Navy SEAL, huh? You'd think after 6 months of BUD/S, Airborne training at Benning, followed by 15 weeks of SQTs before assignment to the Teams, you'd remember that the term SEAL is an acronym. I'm sure you never learned attention to detail, though. You disgrace yourself by trading on the valor of others. Somehow, I seriously doubt that your NEC reads 5326.

Ted May 12th 2009 8:03AM

This is what America should be doing for its people. All to long, American companies have taken advantage of its employees by denying vacation time for up to two years ( no vacation 1st year and use or lose in the 2nd year(5 days)). This creats a lot of stress in the workplace and they wonder why people go postal.

Stephen May 12th 2009 8:11AM

The flag raising at Iwo Jima was not staged. Besides the Rosenthall picture it was also captured on film by a combat photoographer. Get your facts straight before making an assumption. Personally, I do not see a problem with the commercial, and I am in the military.

Scott May 12th 2009 8:45AM

No. YOU get your facts straight. The film was staged.

gd May 12th 2009 1:50PM

My understanding, and I do not teach military history at Annapolis or West Point, was that the first picture was as it happened, the second staged and the second photo is the iconic one, so in a sense everyone is right and everyone is wrong. I might be totally wrong but we must live in an amazing country that we have so much time to debate this topic.

Fritz May 13th 2009 11:33AM

Were you there? I wasn't. The Marines may have waited for the Combat Photographer before they raised the flag, but I doubt it.

Merle T Cornpone May 12th 2009 8:21AM

There are so many important things to worry about.

LT Bob May 12th 2009 8:45AM

You are clueless on so many levels I don't know where to start.

How about the easy stuff? "Marine" is capitalized. Which you managed to do about half the time. I know faux "journalism" is hard and stuff, but don't they teach you the basics of punctuation? I'd think you could at least be consistent.

As for the "staged" flag-raising, you're historically confused: in fact, there were two separate flag-raisings on Mt. Suribachi. I'll let you do the research to figure out which - if either - was definitively "staged." Heck, it'll be good practice for you, doing a little research for a change.

Next, your attempt to compare mocking an image that is sacred to millions with an overwrought Hollywood-produced recruiting commercial ... is just laughably tortured logic. Have someone explain to you how nonsensical that comparison truly is.

And perhaps the best line of all was that throwaway bit on "self-importance." I want you to run - not walk - to a dictionary and look up Freudian "projection." Then look in a mirror. And read that "self-important" line out loud. Unless you're truly as un-self-aware as you sound, you'll probably figure out why its so funny.

gary May 12th 2009 8:43AM

I see nothing wrong with the photo. We ourselves should be so lucky as to see a goverment agency pushing us to vacation instead of always achieving. Anyone, I feel, who would be offended by this ad, has little to no life. There are bigger fish to fry if you want a fight, not this piddly thing. Australia is a great country, very open, fun people, like to drink. Beautifu beaches, on top of it. Leave it alone.

former marine May 12th 2009 9:19AM

The bottom line is, your ad is offensive to Americans, especially those who fought in the war. Your justification for your ad sucks. Just own the fact that your ad is not funny except to those who have never fought in a war because people before them risked their lives so that they would not have to. I don't believe you have ever fought in a war or you wouldn't be so damn insensitive.

tim May 12th 2009 9:20AM

Phil, please do not out and start killing people in the name of God...help is out there

Robert May 12th 2009 9:29AM

It's funny how some of you are so offended by the ad. Just grow up and see it for what it is, an AD. The purpose of advertisements is to "catch" your attention and make it memorable. Well guess what, this one will definately be just that.

To Lt. Bob, the journalist made a very good comparison, he compared an ad with another ad, both in their own way "mocked" the reality of that military branch. So in your mind having an ad depicting a fake war with fantasy creatures to promote the marines (lowercased on purpose) is ok, but to have an ad about vacations using a very popular photo as insperation is horribly wrong, how does that truly make sense? That opinion is very hypocritical on your part.

Next as for which one was "staged" or not staged, you just proved his point. If there were multiple photo's of that event and at least one was staged, then his comment on it being staged was in fact correct, great job trying to prove him wrong by proving him right.

lastly to Lt Bob, proper names are NOT always capitalized, it depends on their context. From what I saw he only lower cased the word when it was in brackets, which is proper to do for it's context. How about you take the time and go back to school and retake college writing (seems like you need it). You're just as anal as the person bitching about photo to begin with, go get a real life.

Zach - The ad wasn't insulting the original photo, it wasn't even comparing the two concepts, they used the model of the photo to create their photo (happens all the time in advertisment).

Paul Stewart May 12th 2009 9:40PM

James Bradley wrote "Flags of Our Fathers" after years of pain staking research describing the TWO flag raisings at Iwo Jima in Feb 1945. The suggestion by Mr. Johansmeyer, that the reknowned Flag Raising on Iwo Jima was staged is neither accurate nor well researched. The statement dismissses historical facts that are well documented and. While I have no real issue with the advertising photo from Tourism Australia, historical figures have often been used to sell products even War Bonds, it does bother me to read when this writer, Mr. Johanmeyer, has not done his background work. Lou Lowery at the first flag raising, and Joe Rosenthal at the second snapped the still photos. Bill Genaust took a small film version of the event. Those are facts and they are substantiated. The Hornet's nest should be for Mr. Johanmeyer and his editors for not doing their due diligence and thus reporting incorrectly. They have implied to the Australian people and all readers to believe that the Iwo Jima photo from 1945 was staged. I have a problem with that. The Photo of The Flag Raising and the Marine Motto, Semper Fidelis aren't Marine recruiting gimmicks. They are what ALL Marines are about. You have dissed Marine Tradition by infering that this photo is not real. Shame on you, Mr. Johanmeyer for not doing your job in checking the facts. And you call yourself a professional writer? TSK TSK!

Gary May 12th 2009 9:53AM

>And anyway, the original photo was staged, a total fake.<
You were a Navy SEAL and you don't know the history of both flag raisings on Mt. Suribachi? The original flag was replaced late in the day because it was the personal flag of the unit commander whose troops scaled the mountain. He wanted it back and they sent a bigger flag up the mountain to take it's place - and they took a photo of the second flag going up. The second flag flew over Suribachi as the marines took about 4,000 casualties in the next three days... what, exactly is fake about any of that? I'd say your claim to being a SEAL is fake.

Richard May 12th 2009 9:43AM

Hey Scott, you are probably in your teens or early twenties and have no idea what you are talking about. I bet you think that Americans never landed on the moon too. Why don't you do some real research before you open your mouth, I bet you surf the net 24/7 and never cracked open a book. You saw some crack-pot on the net saying the the moon landing never happened and it was staged or the Iwa Jima photo was staged and you believed it.

george zay May 12th 2009 9:53AM

There was some debate long ago as to whether Rosenthal posed the famous photo or it was taken spontaneously. Eventually a movie footage was found for the same event. Going frame by frame of the movie, the famous Rosenthal photo can be found. The movie footage I seen shows it to be a spontaneous photo taken by Rosenthal. I consider the image to be just short of "Religious" and should not be mocked in any form. Let the Rosenthal image be the one and only with no cheapened substitutes around to tarnish this historically sacred image.