'Shrimp on the barbie' adman dies

SYDNEY, April 3 (UPI) -- Alan "Mo" Morris, the adman who invited an international public to Australia with the promise of "shrimp on the barbie," has died in Sydney at the age of 64.

Morris who died of cancer Sunday, was half of the celebrated advertising team of Mojo, working with Allan "Jo" Johnston to create some of the most memorable ad campaigns not only in Australia but around the globe, The Australian said Tuesday.

The pair was instrumental in turning stand-up comic Paul Hogan into an international star by casting him as the front man for Australian tourism with his pledge of a shrimp barbecue for his guests. The ad is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington as an example of 20th-century advertising.

Johnston said Tuesday he had lost part of himself with Morris' death.

"We were closer than families in a lot of ways," Johnston said. "We could really second-guess each other's thinking, and it was lucky we were in an era where the kind of stuff we did was acceptable."

Morris had a hand in campaigns hawking margarine, an airline, beer and cigarettes that were voted among the 50 best Australian advertisements of all time.