Australian Commercials Trivia Questions & Answers

Answer: Myer

"My Store Myer" and its simple jingle has been a widely-used advertising campaign in all media.

Answer: Peter Allen

The cynical part in me would say that Qantas has always emphasised that it is "THE Australian airline" and by using this song's highly emotional and patriotic sentiment, it could get away with the attitude that "we don't have to compete on pricing, service or efficiency because if you decide to fly with another airline, you are un-Australian".

Shoulder my cynicism aside and I will admit that this is an ingenious piece of advertising. Qantas grabbed a song that evokes a sense of longing and belonging while all the time telling us it is your right to travel to places that are not Australia. It became such a powerful message and motivator that the airline ended up adopting the number as its signature song.

First released in 1987, using singers from the stable of the Mojo advertising agency, the commercials showed you places like the Acropolis and Disneyland, where Qantas could take you and bring you back from, safely. In 1994 they re-imaged this using notable Australian celebrities in various locations. However, the killer came in 1997... in employing members of the National Boys Choir and the Australian Girls Choir, dressing them up in pristine white uniforms and providing, as a group, wholesome renditions of the song while standing on the Brooklyn Bridge, the Great Wall of China and a host of other exotic locations, they created pure patriotic dynamite.

Answer: Oleg

Baby Oleg featured in the commercials for nearly a year, before he appeared to have worn out his welcome. None too soon for poor Sergei! One of his ads included the statement from Aleksandr that they had discovered he liked Thai food, as he munched on Sergei's tie. Sergei's blog provides more details than those seen on the ads.

Answer: TDK Cassette Tape

The humble cassette tape replaced vinyl records, 8-track cartridges and reel-to-reel tapes as the 'modern' audio storage medium. In turn, it met its demise at the hands of the CD, and various other systems. TDK also produced video tapes, but when is the last time anyone saw one in captivity?

Answer: Sussan

Sussan sells women's fashions, and have been doing so since 1939, starting in a small shop in Melbourne. They now have outlets in most major shopping centres around Australia, and in 1995, dipped into the New Zealand market. The ads themselves are not extravagant, and usually simply show models wearing the Sussan labels, but the jingle is quite catchy.

Answer: Solo

The rugged, outdoorsy type could be found wrestling crocodiles, kayaking over waterfalls, dragging live sharks home and then drinking half a can of Solo- the other half had to dribble down his chin. The campaign started in 1986 and ran for many years.

Answer: Pro Hart

He used shotguns, dropping paint from balloons and even his own body to produce his art. The dragonfly he produced for the Stainmaster ads was done with food and looked quite impressive. When the cleaner arrived in the morning, she was not so smitten, and promptly cleaned it all up! The other painters mentioned in the question were all dead well before the commercial was filmed in 1988.

Answer: Red Rooster

It is Red Rooster. The packaging they use for their food (i.e. the boxes they put the food in) is red. They are a chicken restaurant.

Answer: Sanitarium Weet Bix

We all remember the ad where each of the cricket team admitted how many Weet Bix they eat for breakfast, but there have been a great variety of ads featuring these and other sportspeople. Sanitarium have supported the Australian cricket team for a number of years.

Answer: Holden Barina

The cute little "beep beep" was a very effective campaign for the Barina which was on the market from 1994 to 2000.

Answer: A free meerkat soft toy for each policy purchased through them

The original promotion offered a choice of two figures (Aleksandr or Sergei), and required that the relevant policy be purchased by the end of March that year. They proved so popular that their availability was extended for over a year. A thriving market in secondhand meerkats developed, with people (like me) who didn't want to purchase new insurance, but desperately wanted a meerkat toy, searching for people who wanted insurance but not the free toy. The UK market had a much larger range of figures available at different times, so avid collectors could obtain literally dozens of different meerkat toys.

Answer: Don't litter

Whilst all these concepts are quite laudable, the plea in these ads was to clean up your rubbish. The campaign was re-released on a national level in 2002, and in my opinion, should be on air indefinitely. It is a simple, yet effective message.

Answer: Soap

He was reading the finance column, she a travel magazine, and the young daughter was in her own bath playing with her pet duckling. All these trappings were used to advertise Cusson's Imperial Leather soap. I never bought it- I just could not see how you could make leather lather!

Answer: Beer

In Australia XXXX is a brand of beer (pronounced four-ex). In some other countries it is a brand of condom.

Answer: Eat My Shorts

The three incorrect answers are totally fictitious. "Eat My Shorts" is a relative newcomer to the supermarket shelves.

Answer: Brandpower

Brand Power is an alternative advertising medium. According to their website, the aim of Brand Power is "to provide you with 'Facts and Value' through information".