The South Australian Tourism Commission is in hot water with its own shadow minister after forking out the funds for influencers to come visit the state, only to have them dub it Australia’s “most boring state”.
It was an interesting take, but not necessarily one that was all too surprising – it’s a long-running joke plaguing the state, and the content produced by the Tiktokers has been defended as both intentional and ironic.
However, Shadow tourism minister Jing Lee does not share that opinion, demanding to know “who has chosen them, why they are here, [and] how they have been selected.”
7News have also reported that the opposition are calling for the campaign’s cost to be made public.
South Australia’s tourism organisation put their plan into motion in 2022 when they invited 12 social media influencers with millions of followers between them on a fully funded trip to the state.
Their itinerary was reportedly designed to highlight “the very best that SA has to offer”, from its “raw beauty” to its “culinary delights”.
“What we’re trying to do is demonstrate that people’s perception of Adelaide is patently wrong,” South Australia’s treasurer Stephen Mullighan explained. “That was the whole idea behind it.”
Many of the videos that came from the campaign run with captions declaring it to be “the most boring state ever”, or with the influencers asking their followers if they were ready to run amok with them.
No matter which tagline the Tiktokers ran with, the content they produced all contained the same hidden message: South Australia was not such a ‘boring’ getaway after all.
The clips they featured painted a positive picture of the state, showcasing everything from dolphin cruises to wineries, spectacular dining experiences, and an oyster farm.
And as SATC have been happy to report, the campaign has been viewed over 5 million times across TikTok.
It still wasn’t enough for Jing Lee, who shared her belief that “the Labor government has an obsession with influencers.”
But Stephen Mullighan had his own thoughts on the matter – and more specifically, one of the opposition’s previous attempts at a tourism campaign.
“We’re certainly not going to get lectured to by Jing Lee, John Gardner, and the Liberals,” he said, “who were of course responsible for the most humiliating tourism campaign [the 2019 ‘Old Mate’ campaign] that’s been rolled out in our nation’s history in recent times.”
Images: TikTok
This article first appeared on Over60.