Oprah will do it for Australia

The first is Australia’s failed bid for the 2022 football World Cup. The video used in Australia’s final pitch to FIFA executives featured a cartoon kangaroo taking a virtual tour of Australia’s best known landmarks and personalities. Yawn. Better luck in 2030 perhaps?

The second event was a segment for Oprah’s pre-trip program presented by Network Ten’s 7pm Project host Carrie Bickmore . The excerpt was designed to be a crash course in Aussie culture, discussing Australian slang and features of our lifestyle. The piece was unremarkable but for the following description by Bickmore:

"While you [Americans] have your diners, we have these special cafes where guys come for business meetings, girls come for a catch-up over coffee. It's all just a little bit fancy. In Australia, McDonald's are called Maccas. They're hip hangouts where people sip gourmet coffees in the McCafes and dine from a menu exclusive to Australia."

The web was immediately rife with slurs against Bickmore for being a "sell-out". When quizzed, McDonalds confirmed the mention of the fast-food chain was indeed a pre-prepared product promotion. Only no-one told the audience about it. Another own-goal to Australia’s street cred.

Yet we may just find that the world discovers a more nuanced vision of Australia from the current Harpo hoopla. This is because we are now in a social media world where information on our country is far more accessible than in previous times when the only picture Americans and the wider world received about our country was from box office hits and mass advertising campaigns.

People are now far more likely to stumble upon the more earthy realities of our country from the fragmented nature of the web, the blogosphere, and friend-of-a-friend connections on social networking sites. Such connections increase the likelihood people will come and discover the place for themselves, and not just the typical tourist hotspots.

Returning then to personal recommendations. People’s decision-making is never as rational as we make it out to be. Emotions usually matter far more in choices than diligent research and a weighing-up of options. This is good news for Australia, because we are an expensive place to visit and a long way for anyone to come. But come they will, because Oprah is in town and girlfriend: you gotta see this for yo’self.