It's a topic that seems to become more of an embarrassment every day. Fact is, we are selling more and more product in the form of entertainment overseas. Television and radio shows, sports people, bands, various arts and technology.

What we need to wake up to is that various products/personalities being sold overseas directly affect the potential sale of products and services that attempt to follow.

Imagine trying to flog a TV show to an American shortly after some Aussie in Khaki shorts has just dangled his new born child in front of a crocodile and then to make matters worse, tried to explain the event by saying that it's normal behavior in his part of the country. Lets face it, we would all feel a bit stupid if PA operators started taking their 4 month old kids to rock venues and hanging them up with part of the speaker grid to make them more PA savvy.

Viewers overseas must think we are nuts because other runners for the embarrassment award obviously play on our cricket team, export sheep and handle political issues for the country.

Now we are not just here to have a good bitching session. We have a solution. Why not put a tax or duty on export product that is offensive to our good image.

The suggested Gear Plus embarrassment tax

• 30% for items that turns our stomach.
• 20% for anything humiliating
• 10% for simple shame value

TV shows easily hit the list, being well embedded with some of our more painful embarrassments.

Politicians should almost automatically pay a large chunk of this tax. And the silly buggers should keep paying when they retire because they seem to become even more embarrassing when the "leave" politics.

As to sports stars. We give up. School kids on a bus trip to the zoo behave better. Just throw the book at the numbskulls and tax them to the max.

Click here to email your thoughts on people who should be added to the list.

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Fact is, we are all ambassadors of our country. So, why don't we take a better look at ourselves and how we would like people to view us. And then lets always remember to try and modify some of our products and actions when being promoted overseas. It's every individual Australian's responsibility.