MAIDS NEED TO MODERNISE
DEBATE about the appropriateness of the Gold Coast’s famed Meter Maids – like their golden bikini outfits – never fails to turn heads.
There is no doubting the key role the sassy concept has played in the Coast’s colourful history and famous for fun branding.
Plenty will fondly remember when late former Mayor and city icon Sir Bruce Small took a bevy of them on eye-popping promotional tours. The chances of that today on Mayor Tom Tate’s watch are about as skimpy as their outfits.
As he pointed out at the Bulletin’s Going for Gold Commonwealth Games legacy symposium this week his highly regarded predecessor Sir Bruce helped put the city on the map, but moving forward the place is much more sophisticated and they don’t need to be “front and centre”.
But should we throw the Surfers Paradise beach babes out with the saltwater?
Naturally, Meter Maids trademark owner Roberta Aitchison doesn’t think so and nor do many city leaders.
As she points out as recently as Friday, one of her staff – the 2014 Miss Sweden Miss Photogenic winner Felicia Aden – was hired to give visiting corporates what they felt was a “Gold Coast” welcome by a Meter Maid at the airport.
Like it or not, the Meter Maids – in the eyes of much of the outside world – are as synonymous with brand Gold Coast as its world-class golden sand beaches.
The trick moving forward is to repackage that part of the city in a way that doesn’t disrespect its place in our heritage but also brings it into the modern era.
All iconic brands, rather than being killed off, reinvent to remain relevant – look at McDonald’s these days where you can get a barista-made coffee and much wider menu range.
Would Paul Hogan’s iconic sun-kissed 1984 Australian tourism ad featuring bikini-clad women and him famously declaring he’d throw another shrimp on the barbie work today?
Damn right, with some modernisation. The Meter Maids boss is considering introducing some gender equality with Meter Men. It’s not as outlandish as it sounds, as anyone familiar with New York’s famed ‘Naked Cowboy’ would know.
It can be something that keeps the city on the map – if done right and brought into 2017.