AussieMite: We’ve fired our agency over Catholic controversy; Grown Ups: We’re not your agency
The owner of AussieMite, the brand accused of offending Catholics by satirising the Eucharist ceremony, has tried to shift the blame to Grown Ups, the agency behind the ads, and said that the company will be severing ties.
But Grown Ups co-founder Grant Booker has told Mumbrella that there is no ongoing relationship to be terminated and that the agency had delivered on its brief to create a piece of viral content.
Roger Ramsey, boss of AussieMite, insisted to Mumbrella that the ad – featuring communion bread being dipped in the spread – had been intended to “generate controversy but not create offence”. He said: “We did not expect this reaction.”
The ad was pulled over the weekend after protests began to grow. The Advertising Standards Board has already had about 50 complaints.
But Grant Booker, creative director of grown Ups told Mumbrella: “We had a brief to create something that would go viral. They were enthusiastic all the way through.”
Booker said that the agency had been only asked to create one ad and had not been retained to do any further work.
And Ramsey’s Elise Ramsey, who commissioned the ad from Grown Ups, claimed that it has generated death threats from offended Catholics.
Speaking from the UK, she told Mumbrella: “I’m Catholic myself. I thought it was a little bit tongue-in-cheek but maybe that’s because I’m a marketer. We’re a nice brand, a friendly brand and maybe this wasn’t a good fit.”
She claimed that Grown Ups had promoted the ad without her permission. Grown Ups denies this.
The initial press release from Grown Ups stated that the ad was intended to create controversy.
A series of tweets from the AussieMite Twitter account, including one linking to an article about Catholic child abuse, were this afternoon deleted.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Brilliant! Love it. Very funny. Excellent casting and execution. But I hadn’t seen it before I clicked on Mumbrella. And there’s no way I’d eat that muck. Waste of a great concept.
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Marketers once again prove their spineless nature.
You can’t be everything to everyone
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Gee…fire the agency! So, what, no one client-side approved the ad!
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Fifty Catholics complain so they screw their agency over on creative they approved? Nice…
Who eats that stuff anyway?
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GREAT ad – should have stuck to their guns.
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fun ad…whats with the branding?…looks like a french jam…::)
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dont you schmucks realise the whole thing was just a PR stunt – client in on it, agency in on it. All the complaints were probably inside jobs to create the appearance of controversy
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Love it! And I’m a catholic too. Lovely subtle performances. But can’t possibly believe it was aired without permission… seriously, who’d do that. That’s just crazy talk.
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Sorry, but this whole farce, including the production, is as clunky as you can get.
And as for the name, it’s a blatant trade off of Dick Smith Foods’ Ozemite.
It’s left a bad taste in my mouth.
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How on earth can you create controversy without causing offence? That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard.
She is a self-confessed Catholic. She approved the spot. If she wasn’t bothered by it I doubt most of her denomination were either.
If you don’t have the stomach for 50 complaints you shouldn’t be briefing your agency to do anything controversial.
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Man that ad is killer! I wonder if FOX will sue over the use of the word Sacrilicious next (since it’s a lift from an episode of the Simpsons where Homer things a waffle stuck to the roof is God: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUnH9NECSUU)
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Death threats from Catholics.
Speaks for itself, really
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Death threats? From Catholics, I presume…? Good way to promote your religion of caring and understanding. Really, if you can’t have a giggle at something as obviously silly as this, you really need to look at yourself. As Joey says above, well done clients for firing the agency whose creative you approved! Way to back pedal!
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The Catholic Church has caused more offence to the lives of many than this bit of fun.
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Good god! Blasphemy!! Religious people really need to pull their fingers out. Jesus Christ!
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We didn’t fire nor do we blame Grown-ups or anyone for anything.
We take full responsibility for our work.
We are sorry that the ad has hurt some people, that was never our intention, which is why we have requested for the ad to be pulled down. The ad was made to highlight how delicious AussieMite is, not to cause offence and harm.
A huge thank you to all who have provided us with their support, as a small family business, it is most appreciated.
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So many things wrong with how this has played out.. From a great ad, to Catholic’s threatening death to AussieMite employees (love the irony), to other outspoken religious nut jobs talking about God’s judgement and what will become of all the sinners who oppose God’s (man’s) outdated guide to living (the Bible), to this company hanging their agency out to dry to (from a PR perspective) save their own skins…
AussieMite – I had nothing but respect for your business because of this ad…first sign of trouble you start apologising to these religious morons and betray your agency by blaming them for something YOU approved.
Dropped the ball massively, and reap what you sow…your sales have stopped before they have started.
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The Catholic Church could do with Grown Ups services, their brand image is below that of used car salesmen and their product (Priests) is beyond its use by date. The client is a weak peanut, buckling under as usual, aren’t we all getting sick of this political correctness?
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Maybe if the church stopped raping children, it could raise it’s head out of the mire and smell reality, they and the other religions seem to have cornered he market on wars, molestation, and cover ups, do they have any right to put pressure on this brand? i don’t think so!
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Be careful @Wang…you may be struck down by God for your blasphemy according to half of these d*ckheads!
There is a brutal and elemental irony here:
Catholic’s threatening what they believe COULD happen to you if you don’t believe their bullshit…
Then there’s the harsh reality of what DOES happen to innocent 6 year old boys who get raped by their family priest and then scared into keeping their mouth shut for the rest of their life for fear that their family will go to hell if they tell anyone…
Can one of you Catholic nut jobs on here comment on how you feel about this being such avid devotees to your faith?
And just so I have the record straight with you religious nut-bags…I’m guessing you are all the typical “selective” Catholic’s that choose which parts of the Bible and God’s teachings you believe? How do you feel about homosexuality given what’s written about it in your book? Stoning and all…
Sorry, you can keep your mind control. I’ll stick with reason, common sense and the moral compass my parents gave me.
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SJL — did your parents also give you a real name to go with them fightin’ words?
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Agree with @Nell Schofield – we’re just playing their game. And it’s boring now. Next!
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I must confess that I am very much a lapsed Catholic.
It probably has a little bit to do with being caned at school
for not giving the standard catechism answer for “why God loved me”.
Or was it staging a walk out at high school when the religious
principal told the entire school that the issue of two pedophile
religious brothers would be kept “in house”.
Surprisingly my faith and belief in God remains solid without
dogma, doctrines or the institution. I also believe this same
God gave us a sense of humour. The ability to laugh
at yourself is incredibly healthy. Bitterness and anger is not.
Lighten up people.
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I quite like the ad but then again I ain’t religious. But yeah BIG MISTAKE Aussiemite for not backing up your output and agencies.
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They sure did @Darren Horrigan; it’s Sean John Loucas, look me up.
I see you didn’t take the time to answer my question though?! Turned to the threat of violence instead – very Catholic of you!
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Like it or not, the advertisement is incredibly offensive to Catholics because it mocks the Holy Communion ceremony, the belief that Christ is present in the Eucharist. Ms Ramsey, being a Catholic, would be well aware of just how offensive desecrating the Communion wafer by covering it with a sandwich spread would be.
Would she commission an ad that mocked the Jewish Passover or an ad that mocked the Islamic Friday prayer service? No, didn’t think so. But the Eucharist, which is sacred to hundreds of millions of observant Catholics as well as Christians of other denominations, is ripe for mocking. Disgraceful.
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The thing is, Allyson, who cares?
Its only the Catholics. When they stop hiding priests who abuse children, or sell off their massive art and financial reserves to actually follow the credo they preach, then we shall stop making fun of them. Until then, fire away.
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