‘Aren’t we all boat people?’ MLA drops most political ad yet – and avoids the phrase ‘Australia Day’

Brilliant.

Love it, sitting at my desk and teared up a little. Truly proud to be Australian

Fantastic – but they forgot the Irish !

Very good. A BBQ to aspire to.

I love it but everyone else in my office seems to hate it, I don’t understand. It’s funny and inclusive. The production values leave a little to be desired but overall it’s great.

Loved it and it made me tear up a little too!

Yes Fred it is indeed brilliant.
Over and above the sheer fun and joy of the spot though it make me extremely happy I came to live here in Oz. I met my wonderful wife here, my beautiful daughter & two adorable granddaughters were born here and with the reflected values inherent in the narrative that hit home for me, that makes us all very fortunate.

Great ad to promote multiculturalism and barbeques, a shit ad if you are trying to sell Lamb chops.

That ad wont see the meat departments at Woolies or butchers selling more lamb. Where’s Sam Kekovich?

Very very cool. @roughneck what about the brand equity this creative contributes to, which MLA continues to build year on year? Plus, the cut through this has resulting in shares and views from before they’ve spent any $$ on media makes this great value for money. In contrast they could made a shit ad with non imaginative messaging achieving minimal views, shares and shortly after forgotten. This as you say might impact the sale of lamb in the short term (I’m inclined to think people will buy lamb just because) but also would’ve required substantially more media spend to do so.

In an age where every single ad agency out there claims to ‘make culture’, The Monkeys only went and did just that. Again. Oh and they even managed to squeeze in a banging Haddaway tune to piss you off a little more. Good luck with your banners.

Just wait till Hanson and co have a crack over the boat people and lack of Australia Day mentions… once again MLA guarantees a media storm…

Great stuff.

What a great ad, best one yet!

Love love love it!! Can’t get enough of it….

Makes up for that horrid UBank stuff. Nice work

Loved it! I look forward to these ads each year like ‘murica does with their Budweiser superbowl ads 🙂

Very over cooked. You sure this isn’t an ad for ham?

Political correctness gone mad why encourage illegal migrants to come here to suck on welfare and commit and plan terrorists attacks

if you think this ad ‘promotes multiculturalism,’ you’re deluded.
glossing over massacre, and ensuing systematic racism and violence, in a feel good ditty
what a fuckin joke.

@the monkeys — ever thought about actually just making an ad about lamb…

What a disappointment that was!
So bland. So unfunny. So pathetically PC.
Hopefully The Monkeys regrow their balls for next year and come at as with another brilliantly funny ad like the “Operation Boomerang” one.
To finish off, what about this piece of drivel?!?!…..
“Scott Nowell, ECD at The Monkeys said: “The thought behind the ad this year, and following the evolution of lamb over the past 12 months….”
….The only thing that’s evolved is rising of the price per kilo.

Wowzers, Howie you’ve come a long way since your Boom days! And congrats to the team, stellar effort!

Mildly offensive. Making light of the hundreds of years of mistreatment / aka invasion day is not a good thing. And Cathy should know better.

He gets a small cameo at 1:30

Yet more waste of growers money on pointless drivel that does not sell a gram of lamb. Have to buy in grams as so “bleeding” expensive. True ad bs with washed up comics. Bring back Richie, Even now he would be more entertaining.

Couldn’t disagree with you more Roughneck. Create something sharable that makes you feel positive around an inclusive BBQ (hmm…what should we put on it?), or a 30″ rant about the features and benefits of a lamb-chop?

Sam was in it BTW in case you missed it.

Think you’ll find yourself in the minority on this one.

Great ad. A really feel good ad. And. Sam was there. Didn’t mention the Scots as well as the Irish and Welsh though. We just get bundled up with the Brits.

clearly, a minority in more than one sense

I love how you guys used Kylie Kwong to be your mouthpiece on “aren’t we all boat people,” given that she’s ethnically Chinese — and not Vietnamese, the people that Aussies pejoratively called “Boat People” in the 70s.

Not that Kylie Kwong even touches the icing on what’s so wrong with this ad.

the fact that you can now forget about how we all treated each other like shit when we landed, oh and the fact that our settlement meant the beginning of the wholesale slaughter of the indigenous population?

I’m sure a minority in more than one sense.

An actual grounding in reality for one.

It’s $10kg at Woolies. Cheaper than beef!

Clearly not selling a lot…

How many racist stereotypes can we fit into an ad that doesn’t mention Australia Day although clearly that’s what it’s about?

Too many.

Apologies. I’ve not quite kept up with my chefs. Hey, even Asians can get Asian chefs wrong, eh.

Nonetheless, it doesn’t stop the fact that the “Boat People” is a pejorative term Australians used to describe Vietnamese refugees after the Vietnamese War.

Beyond it being so so wrong for anyone to say “we’re all boat people,” given that most of us didn’t have to suffer what the Vietnamese suffered on their way here, and may have in fact even caused more suffering towards them– what’s worse is using an “Asian” face to try to give it credence, to try to soften the delivery.

I loved it, made me feel good…. until I read the negative, angry comments on this post… that made me feel sad.

Is that SK, dressed as a priest, commenting about Italians, Greeks and Serbians?

Thank you for this wonderful ad. It’s the best ever. Who are the superb creatives who came up with these ideas? Compliments to HR.

Offensive, stupid, racist garbage. Probably the last blast of Leftist self-loathing, before Australia’s Trump moment arrives, as it surely will. The intolerance and hatred of ‘white’ Australians from hipster Leftists inside “The Bubble” is very tiresome. People of caucasian European background are not to be vilified, and when they are, be aware, we hit back hard.

I think you should have just stopped at ‘Apologies’.

Bring it on.

great ad! glad to see the rightful owners take the lead on this… would have liked to see at least one of the Fat Pizza boys in there but still a brilliant ad.

Lamb has evolved over the last 12 months? Into what?

This is perfect. Excellent.
And there are “float people”!!
Inclusive. Connecting. Celebrating
It doesn’t get better.

Bloody Brilliant

Bring back Cronulla riots!

I didn’t like it one bit and I find it very offensive…..
It was supposed to be about eating Lamb on “Australia day”.
The aborigines didn’t know squat about anything until the settlers came here and to have them set up with a barbecue on the beach is ridiculous.
The ad is having a dig at the settlers not about celebrating “Australia Day” which wasn’t even mentioned by the way.
You should be ashamed of yourselves but it was just another way of having a go at the white man wasn’t it…

Wow really? Could this script be any more cliche and cringeworthy. Talk about trying to hard, the copywriter should be hung drawn and quartered and the client drowned on the beach the ad was shot on. I bet the farmers paying for this ad will be super impressed. . . .

I’m sorry Mike, but hat the heck is this… “People of caucasian European background are not to be vilified, and when they are, be aware, we hit back hard.”

How did the advert vilify people of a caucasian European background? You do realise a large chunk of the adverts point was inclusivity and everyone having a good time. That is actually pretty close to the opposite of vilification.

Ditto. I took it positively, then realised from these comments that positivity is frowned upon now.

People complaining about the negativity towards white people who also happen to make disparaging remarks about indigenous people in the same post.

The catchphrase you’re looking for is “I don’t like it” not “I didn’t like it one bit”. Sheesh, do I really have to tell you have to be an effective racist Pauline? I mean Sue?

Love or hate the execution – great to see The Monkeys and M&L had the vision to run with what is ultimately a highly topical, consumer demand-driven change in tack. I’m guessing the vast majority have had their fill of Sam Kekoviche’s annual meat-head laden verbal tirade…

Well played.

IMO this spot depicts how many white Australians would prefer to think about Australian colonization & history; irreverent, self-depreciating, larrikin, even multicultural / inclusive but critically sanitized of all violence & racism.

Moreover it also depicts how many white Australians would like our First Nations People to feel about colonization & more specifically Australia Day. Playing the role of accommodating unaffected happy-host with a strong “get over it” subtextual attitude.

The creative feels carefully crafted to be controversial enough to be mildly newsworthy (probably evoking a hateful sound bite from the go-to right wing troglodytes) while uncontroversal enough to avoid pissing off the core demographic (suburban white middle-class lamb chop eating grocery buyers). That’s not bold or brave or real or even particularly “political”, it’s just rational intelligent researched marketing strategy. In this sense mission accomplished, difficult creative brief met, throw in a few good gags & the can is marginally kicked forward – client may even build cultural colateral for appearing “progressive”.

But while I found the spot superficially charming, inclusive & funny in addition to well cast & directed. MLA attempting to “own Australia Day” (as they say in the marketing world) & reflect Australian identity / values forces the brand to take a political position & invites criticism in that context – even if they’re careful to avoid mentioning the significance of the date or what’s technically being celebrated (“don’t mention the war”).

Combined with the high exposure, TV/Radio preparation campaigns (one assumes trying to get the jump on shaping the conversation before it’s had & preempt criticism), & newsworthy event nature means the brand also loses the right to claim it’s just a bit of fun or dismiss criticism because it’s just an ad. And as a piece of political commentary this is where I find this spot problematic, specially in its depiction of a white-washed alternative cultural narrative.

What’s problematic about the spot is its contribution to the politics of Australia Day, it’s position in the debate around the date & more broadly reconciliation, truth & recognition of First Nations People; specifically the depiction of a sanitized alternative cultural narrative & perpetuation of the “get over it” attitude. If First Nations People are shown as anything other than gracious hosts for instance, would that make them whingers?!

On one level I get it & agree it’s a well crafted ad, but as a contribution to the cultural narrative & piece of political discourse; I find it a cynical leveraging of a white-washed fantasy & a trivialization of the plight & grievances of our First Nations People.

It’s a tough brief, so respect to the creative team for having a crack at it. I sincerely hope the next Australia Day Lamb Ad is celebrating recognition of / treaty with our First Nations People & on a new, truly inclusive date.

I thought this was creative, ingenious and brilliant. It has the Aussie typical “take the piss out of everyone including ourselves” inclusiveness that true Australians portray. Very funny and memory worthy. I am disappointed at all the negative and cynical comments from people who clearly live in the past, are overly sensitive yet not creative enough to enter the marketing world to create these and prefer to just sit back and criticise everything.

This was bloody awesome fun! Saw the comment ticker was well over 50, so thought there might be some lighthearted conversation going on in this thread.

NOPE. Jesus some people take delight in being offended.

Why do some people always want to glass to be 1/2 full or almost empty? Oz is full of boat and plane people. More illegal migrants come via plane. We are celebrating an immigration nation built on those fleeing the destruction of war in Europe (WW2), Vietnam war, ME and more to come yet. We are rich nation that has been built by planned immigration and via humanitarian refugees.

How many first generation migrants in OZ on welfare vs running biz and sending their kids to uni to become doctors, engineers, IT execs we need? Many stats show migrants are often more aspirational/ harder working than some locals. If worried about dole bludgers then export some locals. When you let emotion/ populism enter a debate the facts soon evaporate!

Also if you have an opinion backed by hard facts worth posting then dont hide behind being Ánonymous. So weak as Donald would say.

Fantastic. This says so much about why I love being an Aussie. How very sad and scary that someone like Donald Trump trades on the fear of the establishment and can’t see the abundant blessing of diversity that is there for us all to enjoy. I am ashamed and embarrassed to be an Aussie when I hear about Don Dale and the plight of asylum seekers, but I am so blessed to personally benefit from the diverse community that I live in. Come on pollies, please base your actions on values rather than fear of loosing votes.

This is good. Populist, a little long, but good.

Like all Monkeys work it’s not great. It’s not world class. And it really doesn’t deserve the collective love-fest it’s receiving. It’s sad that we are so starved of great work that we fawn over this.

Look at where the Monkeys rank globally. Nowhere. That’s where. NZ are kicking our butts, Melbourne is where the good stuff is coming from in Aus, yet to read the trade blogs you’d never know that.

Not the Monkeys fault, but sad nonetheless.

Jeez, precisely what date was it that all the critics in the comms business became so politically hyper-sensitive, loud and opinionated?

What a shame it doesn’t mention anything about the original inhabitant tribes that existed prior to aboriginals.

Ridiculous notion not mentioning Australia Day, may as well stop calling it Christmas in case we upset the Muslims, or cease Queens birthday because the replublicans will get upset.

On a final note, who cares about vegans? They destroy thousands of hectares of land they can grow crops. That itself reduces the natural habitat for animals. They are killing off the primary thing they claim to protect.

Anyone who was offended by the truths in this ad is a pig idiot. We were here first, terra nullius is a lie, and you Are all boat people. Aboriginal people were only called lazy when we stopped working for free. Sue, I’d suggest your brain stopped working too, except for two things: you’d have to have had a brain, and then there’s the assumption that it worked once. Our connection to country was and is not anything to do with ego, greed or legacy, that arrived with the boats. We looked after this land for 100,000 years, look what you lot’ve done in 200. Kick us off our land, trash it with *progress, carry on like locusts, call us the problem and hide behind lies. This ad made me feel good, made me think things could change, that we Could All get along… then I ventured to the Comments here. Thanks racism. Thanks Redneck Sue.

He’s the Serbian!

Great response mate.

Best ad I have seen in australia. I do not get the negative comments….

Austrlaia day have very strong positives and negatives for different people. They tried to connect all people though those who were here first. It was very inclusive, funny and well thought out piece of work. Everything about the ad is positive. I have already shared this with si many friends and family locally and abroad as I am sure many others have done….well done monkeys.

It’s all the rage below the line, Alan, not just comms. There is no longer a middle ground. You have to shout and be angry and ideally, turn the debate toward gender or racial politics or just good old left versus right. It’s taken about ten years to come to this, but accelerated sharply in the last couple. Good for publishers’ web hits though.

Incorrect Dutch Flag. It was Orange White and Blue.

Top stuff, lamb. to quote the bleeding obvious.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_of_Indigenous_Australians

‘Yeah, nah, we all need to get a sense of humour aye’.

Congratulations. Wow….MLA have you pegged

Geez. You’re easily pleased…

This would have to be the GREATEST Ad of all time.

Total Genius. Soooo inclusive. Sooooo PC.

I’m going out right now to buy LAMB!!!!!!

Anyone who doesn’t get this is wrong and un-Australian, how can you possibly see anything wrong with it at all??

I love you MLA & The Monkeys – you’re my heroes.

Holy crap, get me out of here.

No, they are trying to sell a product and create more controversy. But you are a case in point that it’s worked again. sigh

Um, pretty sure that everyone racing to be offended on behalf of everyone else is missing the entire point of this ad.

Surely it’s just a light-hearted way of showing what Australia would look like if we could put our differences aside, celebrate what we have in common (above of this kick-arse place) and all just get along and enjoy it without carrying-on like drongos or sooks.

*a love of this kick-arse place.

Whenever I read anything about Australia Day, I’m disappointed for a number of reasons.

1. People make it sound as though the British got off the boats and mercilessly started killing Aboriginal people for no reason. But Captain Arthur Phillip actually ordered that the Eora people be well treated and that anyone killing an Aboriginal would be hanged. This is in spite of the fact that he was speared in the shoulder at Manly Beach after a misunderstanding arose.

2. People make it sound as though the Aboriginals have it worse off because the British came. Well, truth be told, I’m not so sure myself. But it just seems so one sided. Why does nobody else seem to notice that the Aboriginal pagans committed horrible practices such as infanticide etc. To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if this still occurs to an extent. That’s not to say we shouldn’t respect Aboriginal Australians with a certain primacy. I think we should because they have been here a lot longer than us. But can we please stop ignoring all the bad traits of Aboriginal cultures?

3. Nobody talks about how Captain Arthur Phillip refused to take slaves. He wrote to the king saying that there was a law he especially wanted to see enforced – that ‘…there can be no slavery in a free land…’ – I actually hope one day we put his figure on a (money) note with that quote on it too. I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Sydney is named after Lord Sydney who was an anti-slavery whig.

4. Nobody talks about how Bennelong and Arthur Phillip got along.

5. Everybody seems to think that NSW was claimed by the British on Australia Day. That’s wrong – what happened was a raising of a flag. The claiming of NSW came on 7 February as I understand. You can read more here https://www.statusquo.org/aru_html/html/ausday.html#Proclamtion
http://www.ausflag.com.au/new_.....7-1870.asp

In my opinion, journalists should be ashamed and embarrassed because they never seem to pick any of this up! Come on fellas, do your history homework!

Specifically about this ad, I dislike it how it’s not giving a certain primacy to our British heritage. Immigrants who come by air are welcome provided they don’t want to do us harm, but they should be grateful and adopt the spirituality of the nation. We have the union jack on our flag.
Perhaps most importantly, I dislike it how it is promoting the killing of refugees at sea by basically saying we should welcome boat people unconditionally.

Well said.

This is supposed to be an ad promoting lamb consumption– lamb isn’t even mentioned.. seems strange.. I think this is overstretch by the MLA and the advertising agency and far too political for a lamb promotion.. from some who actually pays levys to the MLA for lamb promotion.

It would be great to have day to celebrate the people of Australia united. It should be a day that the first Australian’s are happy with. Then we can have bbq’s like the one cast in this video; everyone happy and together. (We should rein in the Murdoch press who continue to marginalize people.) Perhaps when we become a republic and once we have all stopped clicking on any Murdoch websites? #changethedate #changetheday #invasionday #stopfundinghate

Whilst you do quote some facts, according of course to journals and logs from The British, (and we all know how historic information can often be moulded by the ‘victors’). The fact of the matter is that only a few hundred years ago, native Australians were fishing, swimming and living in and around Sydney harbour and indeed in all of the natural harbours and bread baskets up and down Australia. Our germs, our guns and desire for land saw them killed, displaced and lessened, so much so that you rarely see a first Australian in our cities. Celebrating a day, based on a British Flag being raised is an insult to the facts that when the British came, it quickly turned south for our aboriginal brothers and sisters.

If you are unable to comprehend this then you are blinkered and seriously socially conditioned.

I thought it was terrific. Whimsical, made me a little sad in some ways for the Australia we could be, truly easygoing and welcoming, rather than the divided, suspicious, intolerant lot some of us seem to be becoming. A picture of a much nicer alternate universe. The few naysayers in the indigenous community, well, they are entitled to their view, but IMHO, they are wrong, it’s not insulting to anyone. And it’s funny. Good work!

My friends and I will be boycotting lamb this year.
It’s AUSTRALIA DAY people – say it!
Kaz

Trying too hard – exactly the impression I got after watching this ad
Poor attempt to fake inclusiveness… Although probaly this ad will make most aussie-born suburban white falks feel real good about how progressive and inclusive they are nowadays

It’s likely true in a sense that amongst everyone’s ancestors there were “boat people” (although some may have walked on what was then a land bridge from areas that are no longer part of Australia). It also likely true that amongst everyone’s ancestors were cannibals and genocidaires (pity the Neaderthals and Homo Erectus). Does that mean we have to welcome every cannibal and genocidaire who wants to come to Australia today?

The whole point of the Australia day lamb ads has always been over-the-top larrikin chest beating patriotism that was not politically correct. With background music of Advance Australia Fair we were told those long haired, soap avoiding, pot smoking vegans can get stuffed. The diggers weren’t fighting for a tofu sausage!. More recently we “saved” people from around the world from being without lamb while being told not to drink warm beer and you can never retire from backyard cricket.

The current ad seems like it was created by a committee of Greens politicians and bureaucrats. “We need to acknowledge the original peoples, multicultural mix, LGBT community, inclusiveness. Don’t mention “invasion” day, beer or red meat. Throw in comment about vegans so everyone knows we can laugh at ourselves. Should we have the sea water rise as the ad progresses? No lets save that for next year.”

I’m betting an ad supposed to encourage people to eat lamb on Australia day that doesn’t mention Australia Day or lamb and instead makes social comment will see the exec who decided to run it going the way of whoever decided that Shapes needed new flavours.

Bit of mad upbeat fun really. Meant to be. I must have missed the directive that it’s become the responsibility of farmers to reflect seriously on history when marketing their product. I shared with all my Pommie mates. I’ll get back to yers. P

This is spot on! This ad is so offensive, and in 2017 I guess I’m naive to still be amazed at the number of “Can’t you take a joke” responses.

omg why

Look I can find holes in this too but the central idea, “we are all boat people” is solid and an important message to put across in a time when Racists again feel embolden to spread their hatred and violence in Australia.

What’s the problem? We all thought it was a good idea after we get back from lunch.

Just read all these comments,can’t believe this crap ad has generated so much conversation.If I was paying levies to MLA I would be a little rankled to have my money wasted on this bunch of losers getting their collective heads in the trough

As an australian aboriginal meaning i was born here making this my native country i wish everyone a great australia day and hope all are greatful for living in this great country. If you disagree with australlia day or eating lamb whatever do not spoil it for others.

I love this ad and someone did their homework about who arrived in Oz first. It was the Dutch who actually went onto the land .maybe we can celebrate that day as Australia day.
Oh and before you all start , the Portugese discovered Australia before the Dutch but did not actually sat foot on the land.
Why are you all so upset about a funny ad.?
Lizzie

No – not all boat people because we were born here.