Anzac Day… and I’m always slightly in two minds about the event. You can’t go past the importance of remembering the past horrors of Aussies in war, they’re heroism mixed with a healthy dose of “let’s never do that again”, but I’ve wondered about the direction of the day in recent years. I think the Howard years brought us too much “isn’t it wonderful” and not enough “let’s remember it to never do it again”. But maybe I’m reading too much into it…
Seen some new ads at the moment… ostensibly they’re for Legacy and Anzac Remembrance, but oddly enough, they’re for VB beer as well. But they’re extremely good ads… I would say brilliant even. They focus on an old war veteran, or widow, remembering they’re mate, or their husband, or their comrade, that didn’t come home. Emotional as hell, and a perfect first-hand reminder of the horrors of war. They extoll you to “have a beer” to remember their mates, which is a good Aussie allusion as well, but also where the beer ad comes in.
So I guess what I’m saying is, is it okay to have a beer ad and an Anzac ad in the same package? They are such perfect ads I don’t think you can fault them, but I wonder about the beer content being so to the fore as well (the fact it’s beer doesn’t matter, I’d wonder the same thing if it was a Coke ad for instance).
An interesting one…