Oprah Reinforces Australian Stereotypes That Aren’t Even True

Oprah’s much ballyhooed trip Down Under is worth an estimated $100 million in international exposure, but at what cost are we, the Australian people, willing to let the Queen of daytime promote our country to the world? Well, you can co-opt the shit out of our beloved landmarks but don’t imply that we drink bad coffee (I love our priorities by the way)! Just ask 7PM Project host Carrie Bickmore who has been deservedly slammed for hosting a “crash course” on Australian culture as part of “Oprah’s Aussie Countdown”, a precursor to her trip Down Under. In it, Bickmore claims that men are called “blokes” and women “sheilas” which is fairly innocuous but still pretty cringe-worthy because it’s two thousand and fucking ten am I right? The kicker though, comes when Bickmore claims that “While you [Americans] have your diners, we have McCafes. Guys come for business meetings, girls come for a catch-up over coffee. It’s all just a little bit fancy.” Holy shit with the fucking tagline and everything transparent marketing people who conceived this terrible idea! Also, if somebody who wasn’t a party clown took me to a McCafe to discuss business, I’d suspect they were trying to assassinate me.

Even with the gender stereotypes of men doing business and women catching up to talk about the babies they’re not having and whatnot, this advertorial is particularly offensive because it’s not even true. Urgh. Now we’re perpetuating stereotypes that aren’t grounded in reality? I get that brands want to align themselves with Winfrey’s trip to Australia but to claim that McCafe offers society anything but a reluctant last resort for truck drivers who’ve run out of amphetamines, is fucking ludicrous. Not even the biggest coffee purveyor in the world could survive here (Starbucks if you remember that green shopfront you used to walk past two years ago) because they underestimated our aversion to shit coffee. Which brings me to my next question – have you tasted a McCafe coffee before? McFuck no.

Reports The Australian: “According to Oprah’s Aussie Countdown, which screened to 10 million Americans last week, we Australians call men “blokes”, women “sheilas” and we like to meet up at “hip joints” called McCafes to sip on gourmet coffee. Some of the one-million-strong Australian audience who saw this report on the Ten Network last week were a little surprised to hear of the importance of McCafes to the Australian lifestyle. “While there are a lot of differences, there is one comforting similarity,” Oprah’s guest reporter, Ten personality Carrie Bickmore, said in her “crash course in the Australian way”. “While you have your diners, we have McCafes. Guys come for business meetings, girls come for a catch-up over coffee. It’s all just a little bit fancy.” The Australian asked the Ten Network and McDonald’s about the curious reference and they confirmed McDonald’s was a “broadcast sponsor and had a global arrangement directly with Harpo Productions for the in-program McCafe activity that appeared in Carrie’s segment”. In other words, the segment was paid for and funded by McDonald’s.

Quietly fuming people.

Via Defamer

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