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Gruen Transfer to use comedy British riot footage days after death at G20

Tonight’s Gruen Transfer features potentially controversial footage of British police clashing with rioters over a Benny Hill soundtrack. The show – which airs on ABC1 at 9pm today, comes in the same month that a protester died after being shoved over by a policeman at the G20 protests in London.  

In this evening’s episode, ad agency Gatecrasher Perth takes on Brisbane’s BCM in a challenge to create the best ad to persuade the International Olympic Commission to switch the 2012 games from England to Australia.

Gatecrasher’s execution is to feature riot police in action as if they are doing various Olympic events. The ABC has already uploaded the clip to YouTube:

In the UK, the death of Ian Tomlinson, a bystander who was not taking part in the protests, sparked outrage after the moment a policeman pushed him over from behind was captured on video. The officer involved has been questioned under caution on suspicion of manslaughter.

At the time of writing, the ABC has not returned Mumbrella’s request for a comment.

The clip does not include the reponse of tonight’s panelists: Leo Burnett’s  Todd Sampson, GPY&R’s Russel Howcroft, freelance Dee Madigan and Smart’s Dan Gregory, so their reaction to the ad is not clear.

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