2018 / Video / Meta-advertising fake-out

Dundee

For two weeks, Australia pretended a Crocodile Dundee sequel was coming. The Super Bowl trailer’s punchline was that the movie was an ad.

The original is off-site. HAHrchives preserves the story and a route back to it.

Watch on YouTube ↗

What happened

Danny McBride plays Brian Dundee as Chris Hemsworth guides him through outback-movie business until McBride stops the trailer: it is a tourism ad.

Where it came from

Tourism Australia staged Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns Home as a fake-sequel campaign, then revealed its real product—visiting Australia—at the Super Bowl on February 5, 2018.

Why it mattered

It captured late-2010s advertising using franchise-hype machinery to make a commercial the internet could enjoy rather than skip.

How it spread

Teasers and entertainment coverage seeded the fake movie before the Super Bowl reveal made the advertising fake-out itself shareable.