This advertisement is an example of associating a product with a well-known personality, in this case Hawthorn footballer John Fisher. Fisher’s testimony about the Holden is presented as reliable simply through his reputation. Product sponsorship by sporting personalities is now a lucrative business worldwide. Fisher’s manner is unassuming and down-to-earth, perhaps something that the GMH marketers thought would help their car seem suitable for everyday people as well as champions. Holden’s association with football (particularly AFL) carried on into the 1970s and 1980s, and one of GMH's most memorable campaigns used the slogan 'football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars’.

General Motors Holden – John Fisher, Another Holden Driver synopsis

TV personality and sports commentator Tony Charlton conducts a short interview with Hawthorn winger and satisfied Holden driver John Fisher in the parking lot outside a Collingwood-Hawthorn AFL game.

Curator's notes

In 1962, 14 years after the first car rolled off the assembly line at Fisherman’s Bend, the one millionth Holden was released. This advertisement was probably part of the 'Holden for you in ‘62’ campaign. The ad features a well-known footballer, John Fisher, but other ads in this series include interviews with average suburban families (see General Motors Holden – Happy in a Holden, 1962). Fisher notes in passing that one of the reasons he drives a Holden is that his father did. Loyalty to the brand was strongly promoted in Holden advertising of this period.

When Fisher explains to Charlton what he likes best about the Holden, he says 'my father’s always had them so I thought I’d drive one too’. By 1968, when the 'new generation’ model was released, GMH was ready to capitalise on this inter-generational – father to son – loyalty. Their 1968 campaign targeted a new generation of Holden drivers who, like John Fisher (and the kids in General Motors Holden – Happy in a Holden from the same 1962 campaign), grew up on the backseat of a family Holden car.

Notes by Poppy De Souza