AussieMite chases Catholic controversy with ‘sacrilicious’ ad

I like. Although I have no idea from watching this whether this is a new product or a rebranded old one. But I still like.

Think you can be contentious without going anywhere near imagery of Catholic priests and all that it conjours up – can’t be good for the brand.

So, roughly there are 1.2 billion Muslims, compared to about 1.5 billion Christians, one billion of whom are Catholic…
Why not have some “balls” and do something that takes the piss out of the Muslim’s faith?
Really – why are the Christians/Catholics seen as fair game for this kind of bullsh1t to “get noticed and generate publicity and debate.”
You’re a bunch of w4nkers and really, you should follow your ethos and Grow Up.
A more pathetic bunch of numpties I’ve yet to see or hear about.

Tacky!!!!

John, possibly because Tim’s not an idiot.

And I would much rather eat the Waffle god than Aussiemite. -_-

Gemma Kaye (Actress) is making a habit out of sacrilege, that’s twice she’s thumbed her nose at the Lord on Nation TV in the past 12 months…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceViqBlmYCY (end shot)… Confession time?

Purely my own bias but watching the host being placed on the tongue grossed me out and I found it hard to take in the message. The church stopped doing that years ago for hygiene reasons.

Encyclic – Tim is, indeed, not an eejit. This lot, however, are eejits and numpties of the highest order:
Client: AussieMite.
Marketing Director: Elise Ramsey.
Agency: Grown-ups.
Writers: Mick Hunter & Ian Morton.
Art Director: Grant Booker.

I trust ‘Aussiemite’ isn’t looking for the enormous Catholic market-segment to buy their product. Unless, of course, it does actually improve the taste of those bland holy- wafers, in which case, they maybe very well be on to something.

Is that Father Bob? Or a father Bob lookalike?

Let’s see these spineless cowards do a similar parody on Islamic beliefs.
No?
Didn’t think so. That might be brave. Even creative.
Contentious? My arse.
The credits indicate it took two writers to do the work of one-tenth of a writer.
You don’t get to call yourself creative until you show some guts.
Monumentally piss-weak.

Cowardly cheap shot at an easy target – let’s give it to the Catholics again. Why not have a bunch of naughty Muslins setting fire to a Koran so they make some toast on which they can spread their AussieShite or whatever this gunk is called. That would get you world-wide attention – and maybe your ad shop burnt down.

John Sharples sounds like you’ve got a personal vendetta against these guys. You’re not a Catholic by chance?
It’s a good ad and I like it.

zumabeach: how dare you call us Muslins naughty, this is the type of racist remark that we expect from someone of your race.And Mike, I’m sorry to hear that you are “monumentally piss-weak”. You should see a doctor.

I like it.

Stick it up those Islamist loving Commos. How dare they stick it up The Catholic Church.

when I first saw aussiemite I thought it was Dick Smith Foods but the spelling is different. There seems to be a “today tonight/ a current affair” story here! In regards to the ad well if its controversial for contraversy sake then you lost me for a consumer!!!!

This is offensive. Pure and simple. As a catholic I am offended.
It was common as a schoolboy in Australia, yes, Australia, to be bullied for being a Catholic in the early 70’s. And it was just as heinous then as it is to marginalize a person for their beliefs now.

I don’t get offended by much and understand that humor often needs a victim to work. But on so many levels this is so dreadfully wrong.

To attack the sacrament, the body of Christ, the symbolic high point of our mass is obsecene

Tacky, yes, sacreligious, yes – all things that don’t mean too much to marketers, it’s the currency they trade in.

But worse than that for an ad-man, it’s unoriginal! It’s a rip-off of a joke done on an Australian sketch comedy show, I’m pretty sure it was the late show in the late eighties. The actress Jane Kennedy stands in front of the priest, took the host and then asked if he had any tzatziki.
Seriously, if you’re going to plagiarise jokes, at least let them be funny ones!

@13 John (sounds biblical) – he lost his head – You’ve obviously lost yours.
“John Sharples sounds like you’ve got a personal vendetta against these guys. You’re not a Catholic by chance? It’s a good ad and I like it.”
No, not a personal vendetta. It’s a tasteless ad and Mike, Zuma and Sean all agree and I’m sure if Aussiemite gets its way there’ll be a lot more uproar over it.
Yes, I’m a catholic (and also studied for 5 years to be a priest but that’s by the by). I don’t see what point it has to your argument that I’m Catholic.
It’s an offensive ad – and as Sean said, “To attack the sacrament, the body of Christ, the symbolic high point of our mass is obsecene”.
If this ad agency had balls and wanted to make something of it, go offend the Muslims at take the mickey out of their five pillars…. see where that gets them.
They – and you – are imbeciles for suggesting that “it’s a good ad”.
It’s apparently taken ” 12 years of invention, legal battles, production and packaging hassles” to officially launch this brand and Grown Ups have destroyed it and any credibility in less than 12 seconds.

They’re not going to take the piss out of Muslims because a) They’re scared and it’s still considered acceptable to mock Catholics. b) Most people are not familiar enough with Islam to get any jokes made abut Islam.

Catholics believe that little biscuit is literally the body of their God. So it’s being as offensive as possible and then using a pun from another comedy show to point it out.
They couldn’t even come up with their own joke.

As an atheist I’m offended on behalf of the Catholics. Does anyone want to buy offensive or edgy condiments? This will get attention but I’ll be surprised if it sells product.

completley wrong and insulting to GOD who you have no respect for stop! stop! stop! Pleas apoligise and no moor Dominic.

Be funny.
Be funny.
This isn’t.
Imagine, a product selling taste, done in poor taste.
Now! That’s comedy.

By the way-it’s chicken shit to poke fun on a religion based on forgiveness.
Try doing the same on one whose perverted extreme factions thrives on retribution and revenge.

The worst you get is a rant by Mel Gibson.

We have laws against racial vilification, which can even be applied to silly little girls at the footy and lame jokes gone wrong on radio. We are ever more sensitive to people’s feelings and the need for heightened respect for others, at least in public. Why, then, should Catholics be subjected to public vilification and deliberate offence? AussieMite and Grown-ups should grow up and quit their shock-horror adolescent attention seeking at other people’s expense. Have some respect.

I think The Catholic Church has done a pretty good job of offending a lot of people over the years – especially children. This ad is just a bit of harmless fun. And it’s very funny.

Look, if you’re going to eat the body of christ, you might as well add a bit of flavour.

From a marketing perspective, getting a bit of shock value is a good way to get bang for their buck. Personally I think it’s distinctly un-shocking, so good on the Catholics here for helping to create some controversy and bringing attention to it.

Finally, “why not attack muslims”? Because they don’t need worldwide publicity (including on banners wielded on the streets of Lahore by angry young men), just for a bit of a tongue in cheek laugh for Aussies.

I find the AussieMite advertisement disgusting.
For Catholics, the receiving of Holy Communion is the most sacred action of
our faith and as such Because of our Freedom of Religion laws we all need to be respectful of those things which each faith holds to be sacred and integral to their beliefs. I would NEVER consider even tasting AussieMite or any products made by them. It is not clever advertising, it is crude, childish, revolting.

Cheap, unoriginal, offensive to Catholics. How dare you make fun of one of the essentials of my faith? O I forgot, your bow-down-and-adore profit motive and need to be noticed for gain. So many will not get the difference between this product and that of the Dick Smith producer. That’s where you should have got energy put. Sickened.

Look people. It’s always been a spiritual battle between the Holy Trinity and Satan … no need to explain. Out of all the different faiths in the world the one that it harassed and insulted the most will be the true one … the Catholic faith. The makers of this commercial will also have to stand before God just like all of us. They risk an eternity (literally) in hell for themselves. It’s not about the product.

Sean, the Catholic Church seems hell bent on destroying itself with its history of filthy pedo priests. Now THAT”S obscene.

… Also, Satan likes to attack at the most important times. Today (Thursday) is the original Catholic feast day of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) and the devil is using this blasphemous commercial to attack around this important date to try to lessen the value of the true presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacramental Host. Typical! Just do what our beautiful Pope has asked and proclaim Jesus as “our Saviour in the world”! God bless you all!

BTW, Ricki … The Catholic Church NEVER stopped receiving Holy Communion on the tongue for hygiene except during something like the bird flu thing .. which was temporary. The most beautiful way to receive Jesus is still on the tongue as long as you are able to.

Its not just offensive to Catholics. It is offensive to all Christians and yes even Muslims. The Muslims belive Jesus as a holy prophet however just not God (or the Son of God). So therefore this ad IS offensive to Muslims, Christians and the common decency of human society!

“The most beautiful way to receive Jesus is still on the tongue as long as you are able to”

did I just read this?

holy whatsits batman

Yeah – because they go for a soft target they are wimps. They wouldn’t be game enough to rubbish Muslims. Scared of a Fatwah!

If they were going to offend the Catholic Church, couldn’t they at least do some good while they were at it? Maybe use some Aussiemite at a gay wedding or something? At least it’s a positive message!

How dare you seek to promote your product by making sacrilegious connotations in your promotions. I’m pretty sure others like me find this very offensive and will not touch the stuff as a result.

Disgusted,
Mrs Dawn Chown

I think you all need to get past the religios angle and just look at the ad for what it is. Get off your religious high-horses and get over yourselves.

Good ad!

This ad is offensive and a sad at the same time. Offensive because it unnecessarily mocks and insults deep beliefs of people and sad because it promotes a disrespect that doesn’t benefit our community in any way. At some stage, whether now or into the future, the aussiemite brand will regret this unfortunate strategy. No religious rant here, just a sad commentary on a pathetic attention grab.

These blokes have form. They offended every woman in Australia with their Cougar Ad.

what is this thing “catholic”

I dont think its relevant and therefore the advert is neither brave nor interesting, just dated

And I suppose all of you outspoken Catholic’s go quiet when we start talking about the ingrained paedophilic behaivour of the entire religion…or the crusades…or the Spanish inquisition…or, or, or.

People might find the fact that you believe in such a perverse religion, responsible for some of the greatest atrocities in our planet’s history, offensive! But there they are minding their own business and not sweating pointless stuff for the sake of it!

Get over yourselves…it’s an ad!

What’s next for you do-gooders?! The fact that you don’t like the colour pink, or find it offensive, so we should ban it?

Serisouly, what is the world becoming where people can’t just look at something and laugh. You’re all too precious. Get a life and get out from behind the screen.

Why do religious people feel that the rest of society needs to conform to their personal belief system? You’re offended these guys have parodied your sacred ritual? Fair enough. But your being offended does not give you the right to inflict your standards on the rest of society. As Ricky Gervais puts it: “You have the right to believe anything you want. You don’t have the right to have that belief automatically respected. ”

Why should we non-believers respect your faith? It’s a collection of stories handed down from bronze-age goat herders, that still believed the earth was flat, the sun moved around it, and diseases were caused by demons. The fact that you choose to believe in it is surely your problem, not ours.

When you talk about us respecting your sacraments, you’re essentially asking us to accept that God was angry at mankind, so he sent himself to earth as his own son, to die on the cross to appease himself, to redeem the original sin of a woman who took an apple from a magic tree at the behest of a talking snake, and now the body of that dead man/god is transubstantiated into a wafer that people eat at mass every Sunday.

You want us to swallow that?

Personally, I’d rather swallow a cracker and some AussieMite thanks.

Beware. God will not be mocked. He is a God of Justice as well as a God of Mercy, and His rime of vengeance is near.The people who humiliate the great Sacrifice of His Beloved Son, hidden in the humble Host, will not escape his Judgement, and this applies to the scoffers on this page as well as those involved in this disgustingly advertisement. Repent and beg for His Mercy and Forgiveness while you still have time.

I don’t even like Vegemite, but I sure will be buying a truckload! Maybe I’ll even drop some off to AussieMite’s head office…

ADtheist: I think you’ve confused respect with acceptance. They’re not actually the same thing.

If you think being sacrilegious is going to make me buy a product think again. Obviously very immature and off putting. I for one won’t be buying it.

Hey Jan, by the way; when you start talking about God’s justice and God’s vengeance on his behalf, you actually sound more like a Muslim…

Believe in yourself if you want to have faith in something; it’s the only way you’ll change your life. And given that as a Catholic, you don’t actually have the right to judge people, I’m surprised to see you so comfortable with it.

I’m sure the thousands of young boys who have had their lives ruined and innocence stolen by paedophilic priests over the years aren’t interested in “God’s” mercy or forgiveness.

Give me a break with this crap! Look at the ad, have a laugh, and get on with your life. There’s bigger problems in our world than an AussieMite ad…maybe start with Catholic priests…

Forget the ad, why would anyone buy the product? Is the public crying out for a Vegemite alternative? Even the product name says it’s a wannabe “me too” product. I’m sure when it doesn’t sell well, Woolies/Coles will delist it within a few weeks.

This ad won’t fix any of that.

‘These’ blokes didn’t make the Cougar ad. Only one did.

@stephen:
I am not crying out for an alternative I’ve been using one for about 5 years… We use Mighty Mite in our house (Owned and Produced by Three Threes: family run Aussie company – last time I checked). Vegemite is not only not Australian owned it’s American owned (Kraft) and when I last checked they were owned by Phillip Morris (as in Marlboros). More here:http://abcnews.go.com/Business.....af5HmT9p94 That said Kraft and Phillip Morris are very “crafty” and change company structure regularly, fairly sure it’s still American owned which alone puts me off. I’m ok to buy US made product on most things but not a so called “Aussie Icon”..

Offensive in the extreme! But that’s alright, for in today’s ‘inclusive culture’ anti-Catholicism is the last remaining prejudice. The makers of Aussiemite and this offensive commercial are cowards and hypocrites and deserve nothing less than bankruptcy!

Not to be confused with Dick Smiths ‘Ozemite’, which I have to say is a favourite in my household. Better than that American garbage that Kraft calls “Vegemite”…

If God created man to carry out his teachings it can be argued that He made this ad, and this ad is sacrilicious.

Sorry God, two did. Mick and Ian.

How dare this happens. We are not allowed to react violently but that does not mean that we do not suffer and our hearts break at the mockery and desecration of the Holy of Holies. It has been told over 2000 years ago that “they will hate you but they hated me first’. The world tries to destroy the catholic Church and as much as it is attacked from within, is as much as it is attacked from the outside. I will pray for everyone involved because as our Lord instructed, ” Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do!” I will pray for you.

One of the best definitions of Christianity I’ve come across.

Christianity: the belief that some cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree…

Yeah, makes perfect sense.

Wow! A lot of Catholics on this site!

Firstly, it’s a really tough thing to try and take on a brand like Vegemite – it may not be home grown but it’s always going to be considered an Aussie icon.

I think they really should have tackled that point in their advertising. Just calling it Aussiemite won’t cut it (and that packaging is bleaugh…)

Secondly with all the hoopla around the Royal Commission and the Catholic Church; why, oh why, would you go anywhere near it!? So, so wrong.

How big can an insult be that has been made to Jesus Christ Himself; The Eucharist is truly the Body & Blood of Jesus Christ.& what a day to be sure to dishonor our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ on one of the most holy days; ” The Feast Of The Corpus Christi “. This act was truly done by Satan Himself through the use of others who are weak in their faith in Jesus Christ & his Church. This is a most Sacrilegious act anyone can do.Jesus suffered & died for all of us regardless of our faiths We all need to respect Christ’s purpose & Sacrifices he did while on earth. In the end, Love will over come Hate. Let us all pray for those who lack faith & walk on the dark side of their lives..

Absolutely outrageous. Insulting to catholics and other faiths who know and believe that our Jesus is in the Eucharist. It seems normal to blaspheme and then for others to find it entertaining. The power of evil is strong but God’s power is greater.

And another thing – to all the Catholics being ‘outraged’ and making their rather over the top religious comments on this page – that is exactly what the makers of this ad wanted! Well done.

I was deeply saddened on viewing this commercial. It is not necessary to advertise a product in a manner offensive to any faith group. I do not find it in the least humorous and strongly recommend that it never be shown and that its producers consider a less hurtful way of presenting their product.

To be honest, I can’t imagine Jesus being offended, or even annoyed at this. At least, not according to the bible I’ve read. I mean, he seemed like a pretty decent bloke who’d just laugh it off.

In fact, wasn’t that the whole point of christianity in the first place – that it was supposed to be a “nice” religion which was ok with taking a few jokes and having a laugh at yourself?

For those of you catholic fundamentalists out there calling for the ad makers to be punished, ask yourself this: Do you really want Australia to punish people on religious grounds? Because you know that Australia is a predominantly protestant nation, and if we were a fundamentalist country, catholics would STILL be fair game for an Inquisition…

Keep in mind that only a few centuries ago, catholics were considered just as evil as any non-christian religion, and were quite happily put to the sword by protestant forces…

And people in Australia make fun of catholicism (and christianity) in general because we are, in fact, a primarily christian society. We don’t tend to make fun of buddism, islam, shinto or regional Chinese pagan religions because we are not, in fact, part of those religions!

It would be like an Icelandic citizen making fun of John Howard…just wouldn’t make sense.

I don’t remember red-lighting this ad…

BTW, do the Catholic fundies spouting their biblical hate understand that they’re just playing up to the crazy stereotype that they’re rallying against?

The ads neither here or there though. Hardly worth getting too upset about, it’ll be gone and forgotten in a few days anyway.

Offended? There’s not enough room on the entire web for the offence the Catholic Church has created. Sean i don’t think you were bullied for being catholic when so many other reasons come to mind!

Cuppa anyone?

The ad was dropped because people of goodwill spoke up and objected. Well done.

It is offensive, preying on the peace loving Catholic Faith. You won’t get the same offence being levelled at Islam. It is blasphemous; so in a country that bows low to ensure we don’t mention the name of a departed aborigine, what are our regulators and legislators going to do about this form of vilification and blasphemy which occurs by the minute in the media?

Your sacrilegious commercial does not only offend Catholic Christians but Christians of all denominations who hold a sacred belief that they receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the consecrated form of the Eucharistic host.This most holy sacrament was given to us at by Jesus Christ himself at the Last Supper through the first apostles.For other commentators to link their approval of this blasphemous advertisement to cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is pathetically ignorant.The Church itself did not perpetrate the crime but rather a very small minority of rogue priests who deserve to be punished by law and will certainly be punished when they meet their creator.The Church itself is horrified at the damage to this ancient institution which traces its ‘foundations in an unbroken line back to Jesus Christ himself and its’ first pope in St Peter .Is it any wonder then, that offense is taken at the content of this so called ” creative ” commercial! Human failure by some in authority way, way, back led to some cover up by those wrongly attempting to shield the Church’s reputation from shame. Current leaders of the Church are now carrying the responsibility and are moving forward in formalising apologies and fair compensation.In closing it’s very true that “two wrongs can never make a right” !

There are many Australian Jews. Why not have a daring ad making fun of what is most sacred to them? Oh! – can’t do that, that would be “anti-semitic”!

But if it’s anti-catholic, well, that’s all right then!

Ray Atkinson’s right in the previous caption. That’s why Food brand AussieMite should have followed another way to propose its product to Catholics during the Mass: who approches in any church the Communion, carried out by using the original host that represents the traditional way, receives from the producer some tasty buscuits…..or whatever it is. That’s the best way to promote the brand, isn’t it? Val Brunetti from Italy

The catholic church does a far better job of taking the p*ss out of itself than ads like this ever could. If anyone thinks this is offensive, its no wonder the church never got around to uncovering decades of child abuse in their own institutions.

Let’s see the wafer’ initiative as a way the Catholic church gets some money from practicing communion slightly different from the traditional way… in so doing, she helps herself to carry on with assistance to poor people, (as Caritas), education and the huge expences she needs to keep the maintenance of her estate in the Country and in the third-world missions…under this point of view, isn’t the new host justified?

If the agency was trying to be deliberately controversial it could make an ad holding Jewish religious practices up to contempt … but that would be anti-Semitic.

It could make an ad blasphemous to Moslems, but that would be racist (and foolhardy).

It could poke fun of (insert minority group of choice) – but that wouldn’t be PC and would probably be illegal.

But kicking the Catholics … that’s ok. We don’t fight back and everyone hates us anyway. We’re not a vilified minority so we should just laugh (or take a chill pill).

And if we dare get offended? Well the Catholic Church deserves all that it gets (no other religious faith does, obviously)

Welcome back to the sectarian Australia of the 1790s, when just attending a Catholic Mass was a crime.