Actor Hogan Says ‘G’bye’ to Australian Tourist TV Ads
Paul Hogan has thrown his last shrimp on the barbie.
The Australian star of the hugely successful Crocodile Dundee films has decided he’s tired of saying “G’day” to the world and inviting tourists to visit the wonders Down Under for a bit of outdoor seafood dining.
The Australian Tourist Commission said today the actor had quit the “visit Australia” television commercials shown all over the world for the past six years.
“He said he didn’t want to do any more commercials and this coincided with our research that said it was time for a change,” said Bill Gray, a spokesman for the commission.
“He’d done his patriotic duty and done the ads for free,” Gray said.
The commercials, which made Hogan a household name in the United States and “Throw another shrimp on the barbie” an American catch phrase, lured an estimated 250,000 American tourists to Australia since they began in 1984.
They will be withdrawn from American television screens on March 13 and from British screens almost immediately.
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