Another Day, Another Anti-Australia Viral.

April 28th, 2009 | by: chris |

Next up: Japan.

After Uzbekistan and Bahrain displayed their extreme training methods being used to kick Aussie ass (zero for one thus far), one of roughly two teams in Asia which can beat the Socceroos sans bizarre internet video. Fortunately we’ve upgraded from cell phone video cam to Japanese game show production values, host and wackiness – though sans the politically incorrect/subjective English dubbing.

So what’s the guess on how many takes and pots this took? How about….17 (I have faith) and 51. And I’m a big fan of the double-footed bicycle kick – no clue why that isn’t run out in games (other than the fact that it can’t be video edited, of course).

And we’re still waiting on Qatar.

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Mustafa

After doing intensive research (i.e. watching the videos again, and looking at the people that uploaded them) it seems to me that this might be a clever, clever ad campaign by the Australians… because all those videos are all about “Hey Australia, we’re coming after you!!!” but none of those videos say anything like “Japan, you’re next!!” or anything about any of the other countries in the AFC…

I mean, to me, it just screams out something like a marketer for Australian football saying “how can we infiltrate the blog world with advertisements?”, and then these viral vids hitting the net, followed by all Australians seeing them and thinking “Those Uzbeks and Arabs think that making a vid like that will scare us? Screw them!”

Also, think about western stereotypes about those cultures and the commercials… the former Soviet state has a dictator forcing his minions to perform very specific and difficult tasks, and if that task isn’t completed properly, he will face an extreme punishment. The arab guy has an expensive SUV (presumably purchased with oil money) and he is also subjecting his men to extreme training routines. The japanese guys are being interviewed by a cute, peppy lady and there are lots of bright colors and screen graphics and other things that scream out “Japanese Game Show” to the rest of us……..

Maybe I’m overthinking this (actually, i totally am) but with all these things, plus the fact that the different youtube accounts that uploaded these were seemingly made JUST for that purpose, I can’t help but be a little suspicious
Rory

Seemingly have been done by the ticketing company which handles all Socceroos matches, Ticketek. Trying to boost sales.
Rory

Seemingly have been done by the ticketing company which handles all Socceroos matches, Ticketek. Trying to boost sales.
Nathan

I thought it was the Football Federation of Australia who were behind the ad. They were behind the Uzbekistan viral campaign and according to the agency, Lowe Sydney, they hired to create that video, “we’ll be evolving this campaign with follow-up activities for the upcoming clashes with Bahrain and Japan.” from http://www.lowesydney.com/
Tom

I agree the stereotypes are a little worrying, but otherwise I think its a great campaign.