Britain's ad police relent after bloody campaign

MELBOURNES, Mar 18 (Reuters) Australia said ''bloody well done'' on Saturday after Britain's television advertising regulator lifted a ban on an Australian tourism campaign centred on the slightly risque phrase ''bloody hell''.

The Broadcasting Advertising Clearance Centre had banned the ads from British television because of concerns over the campaign's use of the word ''bloody'' and ordered censored ads run in their place.

However Australian Tourism Minister Fran Bailey, who flew to London to save the campaign, today the regulators had agreed the ads could go ahead in their original form.

''I am pleased that common sense prevailed and the regulators realised the campaign was intended to be cheeky, friendly and very Australian,'' Bailey told reporters.

The ads begin with characters saying: ''We've poured you a beer and we've had the camels shampooed, we've saved you a spot on the beach ... and we've got the sharks out of the pool''.

They end with a bikini-clad woman on a beach asking ''so where the bloody hell are you?'' The furore over the British TV ban provided an unexpected windfall of free publicity for Tourism Australia, which said it had created ''an on-line traffic jam'' around the 180 million Australian dollars campaign.

''That's bloody good news,'' Victoria state premier Steve Bracks, whose state is currently hosting the Commonwealth Games, said when told the ban had been lifted.

The campaign is already running in the United States and New Zealand as well as Britain and will also target China, Japan, India and Germany.

REUTERS CS SND1211