The Daryls of Australia are not impressed. Two out of every three Daryls believe they are being darylscriminated against. Here’s what this is all about.
Cricket Australia has an ad this summer which you might have seen. It’s the “Don’t Be a Daryl” campaign. In it, a bloke named Daryl misses the exciting cricket action because he’s not at the ground. Instead he’s out shopping for tiles. The message is clear. Don’t be like him. Buy a ticket. Don’t be a Daryl.
It’s actually a pretty good ad. If the first premise of a successful ad is to be memorable, then ding! It works. There’s just one little problem. Nobody thought to ask the Daryls of Australia how they feel about being cast as the bloke who misses out.
So we did.
The Huffington Post Australia wanted to canvass the widest possible range of Darylpinion, So we contacted Daryls from three different walks of life.
One was a famous Daryl. One was a Professor Daryl. The third was some bloke called Daryl who was up on a roof when we called.
Let’s start with famous Daryl.
Remember Daryl Somers? The triple Gold Logie winner who spent years doing an excellent variety show with a stuffed bird by his side? Well, his comments might just knock the stuffing out of Cricket Australia. Here’s what Somers told HuffPost Australia.
“After much consideration I have decided to respond to Cricket Australia's sullying of the name Daryl by not attending any cricket games whatsoever. Yours Proudly, Daryl.”
Daryl and Ossie back in their heyheyday. When they went to the cricket back then they needed three tickets. One for the bird, one for Daryl and one for his hair.
Thwok! He’s hit that one straight back over the bowler’s head and into the tenth row of seats. Now is the Somers of our discontent.
Next we spoke to Professor Daryl Adair (PhD). He’s Associate Professor of Sport Management at the University of Technology Sydney, and he edits or contributes to a bunch of academic journals revolving around sport. Daryl Adair said he’d still go to the cricket. But he wasn’t exactly thrilled either.
“Speaking ‘on behalf’ of the Daryls of Australia, this has been a difficult time,” the good Professor said.
“The slogan ‘Don’t be a Daryl’ has unwittingly morphed into disrespect for all of the Dazzas of Australia. It is obviously now time for a class action against Cricket Australia; our reputations have been sullied. We still love cricket. We do still attend. And we want fans to show support at grounds by holding up banners: 'We love Daryl', 'Daryl’s still cool', and other examples of public affection for us.
“This is our time of need. Please welcome back the Daryls of Australia.”
But not all Daryls are so daryllusioned. They don’t all see the ad campaign as a great big slap in the face to Daryldom.
Daryl Williams is a builder on the Sunshine Coast. We spoke to him on a roof. Actually we spoke to him on a phone while he was working on a roof, but you get our drift. Anyway here’s what Daryl Williams said:
“It doesn’t bother me in the slightest.”
The man whose agency made the ad would be very pleased to hear that. His name is David Dahan and he’s the Managing Director of M&C Saatchi Melbourne. Ironic name there, given his given name and surnames both start with the letters “Da”, just like Daryl.
So is David Dahan darylscriminating against his near namesakes? He says no.
“Daryl is not a loser,” Dahan told us.
“Daryl is my friend. He’s a good man, a fun guy. If you decide to look at it through a very small lens, anyone can decide this is finger pointing at the Daryls of this world.”
Dahan said his agency tested several names before settling on Daryl.
“We wanted a name you can’t really shorten, a name that doesn’t have too much of a connotation. Daryl was the one ticking all the boxes. It was a name without too much baggage.”
The question is, will the name become a byword in future for people who miss out on all sorts of things in life beyond memorable cricket moments? David Dahan doesn’t believe so.
But many of Australia’s Daryls might see it darylfferently.