Football, Meat Pies, Kangaroos and Holden Cars
Holden (General Motors-Holden's)1976
Football, Meat Pies, Kangaroos and Holden Cars is a 1976 television commercial with jingle for Holden, created by George Patterson Pty Ltd.
The line
Football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars
Why it works
A quick-cut montage of beaches, yachting, cricket, Aussie Rules, koalas, kangaroos, meat pies and the flag, intercut with Kingswoods, Toranas and Monaros, while a chanting crowd sings that they love “football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars”. The jingle was a direct localisation of General Motors' American line “baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet”, with Australian icons swapped in; a South African radio version for Chevrolet sang of braaivleis and rugby. It is studied as the textbook case of borrowed patriotism: at a time when rising costs and Japanese competition were eating into Holden's position, a GM subsidiary positioned itself as part of being Australian. The National Film and Sound Archive calls it one of the most memorable catchcries in Australian television advertising, while noting that its picture of the nation was narrow and left out much of the country's diversity.
Techniques
- Transfer Intercuts the cars with beaches, cricket, kangaroos, meat pies and the flag, so a GM subsidiary borrows the feeling of being Australian.
- Jingles and music A chanting crowd sings a list of national loves ending with the cars, slotting the brand among the things Australians cherish.
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