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Adelaide wants to cut Dexter ads

Showcase will be thrilled with the media its attracting following complaints by the South Australian Liberal Party over ads for its serial-killer drama Dexter.

In the promotions screening on Foxtel, actor Michael C. Hall can be seen in an airport terminal telling a passenger, “Adelaide has more serial killers per capita than any other city in Australia.”

Liberal tourism spokesman Michael Pengilly wrote to Foxtel telling it “references to Adelaide as some sort of serial killers’ capital damages the city’s reputation and its tourism industry.”

Some of Adelaide’s more-famous cases have become household names, including Snowtown, Truro, Beaumont, and the killings enacted by ‘The Family.’


“A leading criminologist says that Adelaide isn’t the serial killing capital,” said Pengilly. “In fact, it’s below the national average. I’m a proud South Australian and I don’t want this sort of reputation being bandied anywhere around the nation.”

Foxtel says the ad is simply being rested over the weekend. “An independent decision was made by Showtime that given some modest hysteria by the SA Opposition (which has chosen to exploit a media opportunity) that its promo would be rested during the weekend,” Foxtel said in a statement.

It will reconsider the matter next week.

Source: The Australian

13 Responses

  1. The negative view expressed about the commercial is the work of the SA Liberal Party ( which is in opposition.)

    It’s not necessarily the view of the general population of the city of Adelaide. ( Or “township” as it’s been referred to by an eastern state news service in the past).

  2. Brilliant Ad. Makes me even more anxious for the end of the writer’s strike, so the creative geniuses behind DEXTER can get started on season 3.

  3. Daniel G, its a fictional TV Show, do you really believe everything you her on TV? Dont go seeking outrage when there is none to be found. Thats what TT is for!

  4. Foxtel should be commended for playing such a wonderful show and creating intelligent, darkly funny ads to support it. As a fan of the series I found the ad about Dexter as a boy to be particularly good. As for the one about Adelaide – well apparently you can’t always believe what you hear on television.

  5. You’ll notice Michael threw in a face-saving “apparently” before his statement about Adelaide! Being an Adelaidean, I think this perception about our city is just that – only a perception. I’m fine with this ad, considering it’s only being shown in Australia, though I’d think differently about the appropriateness of it if it was shown internationally.

  6. Adelaide does realize that its a TV SHOW and its made up of FICTIONAL story lines and CHARACTERS.
    You have to worry when people are taking whats said on a US series as gospel.

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