Drought. Fires. Floods. Pandemic. Mouse plague. Lockdowns. Life has been tough in Australia for a number of years now, and particularly so for rural communities. As Australia emerges from the covid pandemic and the country opens up, one western NSW community has hatched a plan to kickstart tourism by asking the question, “Where the bloody hell is Chris?” The Chris in question… Chris Hemsworth.
[A bit of backstory: So where the bloody hell are you? was a A$180 million advertising campaign launched by Tourism Australia in 2006. Hence the throwback logline.]
Chris is an Australian Tourism Ambassador, so their #getChristoCowra campaign isn’t too outrageous. And it has to be said, when he posts his holidays on Instagram, the advertising definitely works. Tourism Cowra pulled together the following video to get Christ to visit. As an aside, this is a pretty Aussie video, so if you need anything translated, let me know!
The town’s tourism team have also created this website: Get Chris to Cowra which hosts their petition, the video, and a lot of fun stuff (like the photoshopped images of Chris in many Cowra institutions).
It succeeded in getting the attention of Chris Hemsworth, who responded on his Instagram:
He seems like a fairdinkum nice bloke, so I reckon he’ll turn up in Cowra when he can. Cowra’s a lovely town – we picnic there a couple of times every year (as the campaign says, it’s only 2 hours drive from Canberra).
Does this make you want to visit Cowra?
October 21, 2021 at 2:04 am
Never heard of any of this. I feel submerged in Australia after that video!
October 21, 2021 at 8:26 am
While I was watching it I realised how much I supress my true Aussieness when I blog and write. It still comes through, but not nearly as much as when I talk normally!
October 21, 2021 at 7:55 am
Clever campaign.
October 21, 2021 at 8:27 am
Very clever, especially because it worked!
October 22, 2021 at 12:30 am
It looks like Cowra is a half a world away from you and your new home of Canberra. By your telling it is half a world away from your birth home.
I know that you are almost a world away from me, and I am almost a world away from most of America.
That makes me worlds away from Cowra. That might be the point of all vacations, to escape the world that is dragging you around. Go someplace long ago and far away. Go somewhere exotic, though exotic is largely a state of mind.
Under those criterion, the commercial works, its takes you worlds away.
October 23, 2021 at 12:00 pm
It does seem worlds away – but like you said, BF, everything seems worlds away at the moment. If covid allows, we will be picnicking in Cowra on 22nd December. Fingers crossed!!
November 1, 2021 at 7:44 am
This is new to me. Very clever, and enjoyable, and I bet Chris found it amusing too! You never know, he may make it there between fillings.
I hear the Hemsworth family has recently moved from Byron Bay to Sydney.
November 9, 2021 at 2:35 pm
I think the move is only temporary as they are both filming something in Sydney. Chris has said he is going to visit and I think maybe a date has now been set?