Many Americans will likely remember the iconic “Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet” advertisement from the 1970s, but did you know Holden took a page from the ad?
Down in Australia, the Chevrolet ad’s success spawned Holden’s own version: “Football, Meatpies, Kangaroos and Holden Cars.” The ad’s setup and the jingle are nearly identical, too. The ad does its best to associate Holden with Australia, long the car designed and built for the country. Of course, football, meat pies and kangaroos are all pretty darn Australian, too.
The 1970s were an exciting time for Holden in general. The Statesman line took off without Holden branding, the Monaro was alive and well, and legendary Commodore made its debut towards the end of the decade. The ad houses as much Australian patriotism as it can.
Press play above for the Aussie twist on a classic Chevrolet commercial.
Comments
So it turns out this legendary Aussie ad, which had great impact on our culture, isn’t Aussie at all…
Oh well, that matches the rest of the content, right?
Football – English
Meat Pies – Welsh
Kangaroos – Gondwanan
Holden Cars – American
Now let’s have a look at if Holden actually wants to be associated with those things in 2018:
Football – Canterbury Bulldogs, Gary Ablett and Majak Daw make Weinstein look like a s.n.a.g.
Meat Pies – originally called “Coffins” because mediaeval Europeans baked meat into 7” thick pastry coffins to preserve the meat for up to a year. Of course, in Australia, we’re proud to say our meat Pies last a lot longer than that…
Kangaroos – Americans think hitting a deer is a good way to die, think about a big red roo coming through the windscreen and then, being angry, just kicking like hell in your glass-riddled cabin.
Holden cars – now front-wheel-drive cars that look more like Daewoo than ever.
Can’t wait for the Camaro!!! RHD AlphaII please…
And a Merry Christmas to you, too, sir.
Sheesh.
“Kangaroos – Americans think hitting a deer is a good way to die, think about a big red roo coming through the windscreen and then, being angry, just kicking like hell in your glass-riddled cabin.”
What American ever thought hitting a deer would be a good way to die?
No one is happy to hit a moose, and you’d be lucky to remember what happiness even is after hitting one. Your roo would be an inconvenience.
Since when was football english ? They only play wogball there.
You’re so right! Rugby is Scottish, really.
Hey Old Trombone.. Are you sure you’re not related to that miserable prick Brian?
There has to some positive comments in this page surely!!
Well, you had your chance to make a positive comment, but no…..
What a great ad! It summed up the great Australian car for every Australian! If you liked all those things, this was the car for you. Does it matter that it was pinched from a Chev ad, I don’t think so. The world wasn’t as small in those days. We would have thought it was an Aussie creation.