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Broome, Western Australia: Watch out for crocs!

September 30, 2017 Jim 8 Comments

All those stories you’ve read on the internet are true — Australia has a real problem with man-eating salt water crocodiles. Which explains why the local shopping mall here in Broome is highlighting this safety display.

Oddly enough, this display reminds me of the first ad I ever created. Perhaps it’s not so odd because as readers of JimandJamie.com know, everything in the present reminds me of something in the past.

I did my first professional ad for a Los Angeles chain of brake and tire stores called Big Brake. The headline of that first ad was “At Big Brake, we stand in front of our work.” Not a bad little headline for a first effort.

But there’s a backward gap of ten years or so between that first professional ad and my first amateur ad. That distinction goes to a safety poster I created in Mr. Richmond’s eighth grade art class.

The assignment was to create a safety poster that would warn people to avoid some sort of risky behavior. The choice of risky behavior was up the the individual student. And please keep in mind that the term “risky behavior” didn’t have the same connotation back then that it has now.

As you might expect, all the other kids did posters that said things like, “Don’t run with scissors” or “Don’t go swimming until an hour after you eat” or “Look both ways before crossing the street.”

Perhaps I was odd even as a kid. Or perhaps I somehow sensed that I was destined to have a lifelong love affair with Australia. Because instead of doing something expected like the other kids, I created a safety poster that looked something like this:

I thought it was genius. The design was simple and the headline was direct. As the ad agencies of the world now describe their work, it was edgy.

At least that was my opinion. Mr. Richmond begged to differ. He may have been the first person to utter the words I’ve heard repeated so many times in my life:

“What is wrong with you, deYong?”

Jamie says it to me at least once a week. (Who do I think I’m kidding? She says it far more often than that.)

But please note that while scores of Aussies are apparently consumed each year by these enormous amphibian assassins, I am now 68 years old and have managed all these years to avoid being even nipped by one.

If only the Aussie victims of those ravenous reptiles had been allowed to receive the words of wisdom I so eloquently expressed back in 1961:

Watch out for crocs.

ADDED NOTE: Thanks to my buddy Ray Sanford for putting together this quick version of my 8th grade croc safety poster.

Filed Under: 2017-2018 Blog

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Comments

  1. Lisa says

    September 30, 2017 at 11:59 am

    After a recent trip visit to Port Douglas, Queensland we were told that 40%of people taken by a crocodile in Australia were German tourists. Achtung signs up there everywhere

  2. Ray says

    September 30, 2017 at 12:43 pm

    Be glad you can remember the past.

  3. ray hall says

    September 30, 2017 at 9:39 pm

    Jim, was I black listed, still no updates on your trip????????

  4. Cathy Sosa says

    September 30, 2017 at 11:06 pm

    Laughing my butt off! Good thing g you didn’t listen to Mr. Richmond!

  5. Steven Hubbs says

    October 1, 2017 at 4:21 pm

    Hey deYongs,
    Steve’s comment regarding the croc story is:
    The comment “What is wrong with you, deYong?”, started way before Mr. Richmond’s class!

    • Jim says

      October 2, 2017 at 6:43 am

      I would say that comment is unnecessarily cruel if it weren’t so true.

      • Jerry says

        October 14, 2017 at 12:08 pm

        Ah hell Jim, it ain’t no big deal. I’m about 4 years younger than you, people have been asking me as long as I can remember “what is wrong with you boy”? And I never cared what other folks thought. LMOAO…Life is fun isn’t it!!

  6. lizzie says

    October 14, 2017 at 1:05 am

    Watch out for crocs the inflatable variety that come with two noisy children and their mother that talks to much…far more dangerous and holiday destroying, especially when she tells you how much she loves Obama … I hope you enjoyed Daylesford?? and I look forward to reading about your travels!!! Call me when you reach Melbourne next year. feel free to email.

    That woman married to the good-looking tv doctor… xxx

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