HAS Australia seen the last of Rhonda and Ketut?
That is a possibility after comments from AAMI insurance marketing manager Richard Riboni today.
Mr Riboni has told the Mumbrella media and marketing site that he is undecided about the future of the Rhonda 'safe driver' advertising campaign.
Rhonda is played by actress Mandy McElhinney who is pursuing a serious acting career.
McElhinney appeared in Kerry Packer's secretary in the Howzat! telemovie.
Next up she stars as magazine editor Nene King in Magazine Wars, the sequel to Paper Giants.
"Mandy is a well-known actor, and her career is taking off,'' Mr Riboni told Mumbrella.
"We have to work with her schedule, if we want to use her more in the future.''
The Rhonda and Ketut romance has become a social media phenomenon.
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Mr Riboni has revealed that the Rhonda/Ketut campaign isn't universally popular. He is also worried about overkill.
"It's a balancing act to leverage the positive public sentiment towards Rhonda, while being careful not to take advantage of it,'' he says.
McElhinney recently told News Limited that she was happy to continue playing Rhonda in the short term.
"It (over-exposure as Rhonda) was one of the concerns when I started but I think people are intelligent enough to know it's a character,'' McElhinney said.
"I wouldn't want to saturate it and keep doing Rhonda forever but at the moment it doesn't feel like it's interfering with things.''
Bali hotel employee Ketut is played by part-time Melbourne forklift driver Kadek Mahardika.
The Rhonda 'safe driver' campaign has lasted just over a year. The initial Rhonda advertisement aired in October 2011 with Ketut making his first appearance last March.
The Rhonda/Ketut romance has become a social media phenomenon.
A Facebook page dedicated to Rhonda and Ketut has more than 115,000 'likes'. Rhonda T-shirts are now being sold in Bali.
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