MLA Australia Day lamb ad faces Ad Standards hearing over vegan violence next week
The Advertising Standards Bureau will hold a formal hearing into whether Meat & Livestock Australia’s latest Australia Day commercial promotes violence towards vegans, however it will not happen until the middle of next week.
While concerns about the ad, which launched on the weekend, have been raised on a number of fronts, including the military nature of the ad being offensive to indigenous Australians who consider Australia Day “Invasion Day” and the ad being offensive to vegans, the ASB has confirmed it can only hear complaints about the ad that raise concerns over violence.
The campaign, which stars SBS newsreader Lee Lin Chin, has triggered more than 300 complaints to the ASB in 72-hours, putting the campaign on pace to break the record held by infidelity website Ashely Madison, which drew 418 complaints for an ad in 2014.
oh good grief. You’ve got to be kidding. How ridiculous. What’s next? The government goes before the ASB for promoting the flu shot because moronic anti vaxxers get mad??
this is stupidity at its finest.
This is hardly promoting violence against vegans, but it is indicative of the direction a lot of creative agencies go towards when trying to be humorous; attack the “other”, rather than celebrate the audience. So often, we see racial and social stereotypes used to mock people who live outside the Australian mainstream, rather than reveling in the unique pleasures of being Australian. C’mon The Monkeys, it’s 2016, we don’t have to be scared of Japanese customs or people who eat lettuce.
Bloody funny Australia Day TV campaign.. What we Aussies do best is take the piss out of each other and ourselves. So to hear that this TV ad might be banned is an Australian crime! Get over yourselves Advertising Standards Bureau. It’s a joke! No vegans were hurt, injured or killed in the making of this ad. Nor is there any suggestion they should be. Signed – A vegan!
That should be a short yet amusing hearing.
In positive cultural news, I’ll only be eating vegan lamb this year, to show my deep cultural allegiance with the cabbage juice drinkers.
Hi we think the ad is great but a real Aussie meal needs some good ole Roo, so put a kanga steak on the bbq too 😉
Vegans! I can’t stand them! Get a life and change your diet… Do you know how much trouble you cause at BBQs?
It’s 2016, we’re all PC Brah
Beat up about nothing
This shits me! As funny as it is to pester vegans, the ad agency and client are desperately milking for the backlash. It’s all part of the PR theatre. It’s tacky as f&#k!
Oh man, this is moronic – the ad just has a go at people who don’t eat meat, but there’s no need to be pricks about it just to sell lamb.
All they had to do in the ad when the vegan guy identifies himself is go;
‘right go to plan b, commander!’ and then show the soldier handing the guy a box of veges, then everyone smiling. Funny as, inclusive and solved.
But no, gotta be A-grade ayholes, because it drums up publicity.
Well said, @button.
However, I think many people live their lives looking for reasons to be offended. About the only area I’m a minority in is as a cyclist, and it frustrates me that so many in that community have little pet terms for cars (‘steel death cages’) and a general, pre-emptive anger towards drivers and others who might possibly offend them somehow. It actually perpetuates the divide and leads to further problems in the very areas they complain about. Plus, it just plain makes people dislike them.
There is no violence towards the vegan in this ad… unless ‘coffee table arson’ is personal violence now?
In relation to the serious problem facing the Australian farmers and the meat Industry,a few upset Vegans is extremely trivial. Extreme meat bashing without unbreakable evidence has been given huge media space and the campaign answers back. The campaign is not about their tender feelings.It’s about using advertising correctly – awareness and sales. It’s a hard market to make a real impact and it uses effective
communication skills. It works and breaks through to help Australian productivity. No vegans were harmed in filming I’m sure, but the barbequed
coffee table is sweet revenge for their mean bleatings to chop lovers.
Are we getting more than a little precious here? This year takes over from last as the year we are offended by everything. The advertisement is hilarious.
Sadly, being offended by the ad indicates you may not have understood who it is making a wry jab at…not vegans, not diversity.
Very insensitive ad and not how Australia should be portrayed. P.C Garfield should stay behind his desk in London
Oh for goodness sake people get a sense of humour. Why is this nonsense even taking up space. Get over yourselves and stop running around apologising on everyone else’s behalf. If they’re deliberately orchestrating PR then “job done”. Ppfffttt.
I’m a vegan and find this ad hilarious. It’s clearly been a successful campaign in terms of reach and talkability. It’s a shame it is taken so seriously by some, if communicated correctly it could have been a great stage for vegans to do something funny in return & shown that a lot of us have a sense of humour!
The is bullshit i tell ya! PIC ppl bite me…
I’m not angry at vegans over this, I have a couple of vegan friends who found this hilarious.
I’m angry at the ‘look at me, I’m so hip and you have to follow my lifestyle because I’ve been on this planet for 28 years so I know what’s best for everyone and all vegans will be offended by this as well as other people’ tosser brigade.
My post should be offensive to you, not the ad which was just having a bit of fun.
Comment #1 sums this up perfectly.
Thank God they didn’t say the vegan had pretty eyes and ask them out for a drink.
This is the best Australia Day lamb ad I’ve seen, and I really think the people complaining need to get a sense of humour – and a life. I love the ad and I don’t even eat lamb!
It’s a clever ad but I disagree with their attack on vegans. It’s been done purely because they know these people are never going to be customers of theirs so as the ‘other’, they’re fair game. Ad would have been great without targeting this increasing part of society
Good grief. What a lot of fuss about nothing. We’ve all truly lost focus if we have time to get all worked about about a silly, fun TVC. There are far more important things to expend energy on – and this is not one of them.
Just showed my very cynical wife and even more cynical 13 yr old son… Absolutely loved it and yes checked out the COD spot that this was inspired from, but who cares if it’s similar…it’s advertising for christs sake. Good job on the PR, job done and I’m an ECD, well done Monkeys…stuff the hippy vegans, medium rare thanks.
Same bat time same bat channel
Must be Australia Day
Weak advertising targeting vegans
MLA under threat as more people choose kinder lifestyle choices
I’m 100% Aussie
100% vego
And 100 % bored with the ad direction
Go eat a veggie burger and celebrate this amazing continent ?
Sorry, of all the Australia Day lamb ads, this seems the ‘try-hardest’ and least funny. I so wanted to like it, but it left me empty.
There are less aggressive ways to take the piss out of vegans.
Example:
[scene @ the airport]
Gate agent: “Now boarding last call for flight #___, the 8:00pm service non-stop to Los Angeles”
[from about 200m away the gate agent sees a man barreling towards him and waits to close the door]
Gate agent: “You made it just in time sir, ticket please”
Man: “I’m not on this flight, I just wanted you to know that I am a vegan”
[End Scene]
As for MLA – for a cheap re-write, change the scene so the paramilitary slaps a beetroot on his quinoa and then says “as you were.”
…and get rid of the gratuitous”boomarang” reference.
IMHO, then you too need to get a life. Are you that precious?
Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.
I’m 100% meat eater
100% aussie
and 100% sick of vego’s telling me they are vego’s.
Not ‘offended’ by this ad just fed up with ads that are based on ridiculing non-mainstream choices. Same with the Woolworths ad that showed some hippy chick licking soil because she stupidly grows her own food. What’s with this Aussie need to unsubtly slam those who don’t conform to the accepted national stereotype? Using Lee Lin Chin doesn’t confer irony.
Wow at least we know two things about vegans now:
(1) their feewings are vewy sensitive;
(2) they can mobilise in force!
When my partner told me of this I though he was pulling my LEG
They have worked themselves into a lambastic state over nothing
I lambent the day we have lost our sense of humour
I was so upset I had a whole pack of lambingtons to
GET OVER IT !!!!!!!!!!!!
The word Boomerang or any other name is NOT owned by ANYONE
no matter how precious you think your RACE is
Oh, Carla (#34) – couldn’t you have at least worked a “BAAAAA” in there somewhere?
What some people on this forum don’t seem to be capable of figuring out is that this is not about political correctness, the ad goes way beyond that by depicting and advocating anti-social, violent, and exclusionary behavior against a group of people in order to sell and promote their produce – and this is bound to appeal to all of the anti-socials in this country. It is also very un-Australian but the anti-socials won’t think so because they have a warped idea of what is Australian.
Advocating anti-social, violent and exclusionary behaviors….. WOW, you must be fun at all the parties!
@james
I’m 100% vegan
100% aussie
and 100% sick of meato’s telling me they are meato’s.
@Di Can you please explain in definite terms, what is is to ‘be Australian’
@jeff careful Jeff, I’m a meat eater. I actually really really love meat and apparently I have been incited by advertising to commit violence against vegans on and around Australia Day… Laughable. Did I mention I love meat? Like, really really love it? I’m a meat eater, who love meat.
Its a real shame that many people contract bowel cancer from eating meat!!! BUT DONT SAY WE DIDNT WARN YOU!!! Hahaha!!
You charming piece of excrement Vicki.
May I draw your attention to the EPIC-Oxford study of n=63,550 Britons aged 20-89 conducted in 2009. While vegetarians showed an 11% lower incidence for all cancers, they showed a 39% higher incidence of colorectal cancer than meat eaters.
I would never wish anyone ill, or joke about cancer – it literally scared the shit out of me – but don’t say I didn’t warn you.