The banned Gruen Transfer anti-discrimination ad
This ad – which the ABC banned from airing within The Gruen Transfer – is well on the way to becoming the most controversial unaired TV ad of all time.
- The story of the anti fat discrimination ad’s ban from Gruen is here.
- Adam Hunt, the creative behind it, tells his story here.
- And Mumbrella’s views on what it does to Gruen’s relationship with the industry is here.
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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Wonder why they didn’t stick it on youtube as well last night – massive hang problems with the http://www.antiprejudicead.net website they set up getting pounded all at once. You would think that Google’s server resources behind Youtube could have helped the ABC avoid that problem.
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Now that I’ve seen it, I think it is really effective. Reading the jokes on one of Mumbrella’s last posts didn’t really impact me but seeing these “normal” people say them made me feel physically ill.
As controversial as this is, I think if it were broadcast it would be undeniably effective.
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As, I think, Todd Sampson, said in the online debate, the casting was very important. None of the joke-tellers are likeable.
This is definitely something that absolutely wouldn’t have worked if the execution hadn’t been as good.
Cheers,
Tim
I agree with Tim (and Todd!) about the importance of execution.
The ad was brilliantly cast by Toni Higginbotham & Kari Harris, and The Kamen Bros tight direction coaxed magnificent performances out of them.
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Why on earth did they ban this advert? It’s stunningly effectively. The ABC really let itself down this time.
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Hi Adam Hunt,
Your ad was BRILLIANT….I am mildly obese. I have been spat at in the street by a young teen who looked much like your young actors in the ad…he went on to call me “fat cunt”….it just happened randomly. The irony is, my weight is barely noticeable upon my already large frame….imagine what he’d do to someone who was morbidly obese.
Personally I’m strong enough not to give a fuck what he thought…but my immediate emotional response was shock and shame.
Thanks for confronting this issue with exact sensitivity …u hit the nail DIRECTLY on the head.
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That’s a bloody shocking ad.
For once, it was intended to be so.
Truly great work, IMHO…
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I can see why the ABC didn’t screen this ad. The kind of people who decided to watch it online would obviously of had a different opinion then the ones who decided not to. I imagine the hate mail would of far out gunned the support had things of been different. Eating un-healthily and not exercizing is as anti-social and dangerous as smoking in the long run. Get over your self, fat pride is a joke. This guy is on the wrong track with the ad anyway
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And yes I am a smoker and yes I get discrimnated against every day. Its a lifestyle choice, just like stuffing your face with donuts and playing computer games all day. The tax payer will have to pay for the cancer suffer and the heart attack case both. Using racial and ethnic conotations to defend a lifestyle choice is just arrogant. I have to put up with only getting half a seat on a plane because I’m sitting next to some fat guy. However I can’t smoke in a pub because people don’t like to sit near a dirty smoker. I was offended by the knob whi made this ad. Stop whinig and eat a sald you fat bastards
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Gilbert, that’s extremely narrow minded of you to believe that the only obese people are those that “stuff their faces with donuts”. While everyone else is being open minded and mature about this ad, you’ve decided to be, quite frankly, a dick about it.
That aside, I agree 100% with the ABC’s decision not to broadcast the ad. I also agree 100% with the strategy and execution and think it is a fantastic advertisement and answers the brief perfectly. I think this is a prime example of why youtube is so important these days. Sometimes we have a really strong message but can’t align it to a brand for fear of complaints. If this ad had of been aired only on youtube, however, rather than TV, just as many people would have seen it and it would have had just as much opportunity to change people’s perceptions of discrimination against fat people.
Well done I think.
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It’s gotten plenty of exposure from things such as Facebook (Wil Anderson’s page)..etc as well as the interview with Adam on mUmBRELLA…
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Honestly, and I know I’ll probably get shot down on this forum about it, but now that I’ve seen the ad I don’t think that it is that effective at all – and I can see why it was banned.
Regardless of the execution, the ad seems more of an excuse to tell offensive jokes than anything else. It reminds me of comedians who go on rants about specific stereotypes then justify them by saying “im allowed to say that because I am Jewish”.
There are more creative ways to highlight the issue of discrimination, in a shocking manner, without becoming a part of the problem.
The ad was bad form Adam, and not one of your best pieces of work.
The ad is going to be popular online, but it will be more popular for the fact that it was banned than for anything else.
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When I read the script on Mumbrella, I thought it was a joke too far. But having seen the ad, I found it very powerful, and think it works.
It would seem to be one of the only times the Pitch segment has sparked a genuinely effective and emotive piece of advertising. I’m glad Adam chose to take the brief seriously. It’s a serious discrimination.
If it’s deemed too shocking, this seems to be a step towards the American, puritanical attitude towards reality in advertising. Try the British Anti Domestic Violence ad with Keira Knightley if you want genuinely shocking.
But the thing is – it works. To cut through all the shite we see on television, you have to stand out with a thought provoking and honest ad. One would have hoped the ABC, bastions of great broadcasting, would see that.
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Adam Hunt placing himself on that high a moral plane wants to be careful that he doesn’t get a nosebleed… One could be forgiven for thinking that he had cracked the code for world peace with the parsimonious rationale of what was a pretty dumb execution and even dumber strategy… The net result of using this approach would be to provide currency to some bad and offensive jokes that may have been previously unheard… breathtakingly smug and naive
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The ad made me look at my own attitude and i think this is an effective ad for ME. While I would have been shocked and offended had someone around me made racist and sexist jokes, I probably would have laughed at jokes targeting fat people because it’s not politically incorrect to do so.
This made me think and I would like to thank Adam for this…
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I’s a great ad, but its not effective in it’s objectives. I can’t see how this would make anyone proud to be fat. It was designed to be shocking.
It was an ad about discrimination, with nothing in there about fat people feeling proud.
Nothing worse than an agency that doesn’t follow its breif but tries to get clever.
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Todd and Rusell obviously had conflicting perspectives on the matter, but each made a point that I found resonated clearly.
Todd made the point that the ad was so shocking from the beginning that he couldn’t process it. Russell concurred with Adam that the strategy to fulfil the brief was bang on.
To Todd’s point, had the ad prefaced the shock factor (something like ‘Viewers WILL be offended by the following content’), then the viewer is prepared for what comes next, and has that morbid fascination to continue viewing, similar to what most of us experience when we pass by an accident and look even though we don’t want to.
To Russell’s point, the ad is shocking, controversial, and generating a huge amount of debate. It’s lifted the profile of the issue and therefore has succeeded.
I’ve always enjoyed watching the Pitch so I can have a good laugh at some clever humour, but I have enjoyed this chapter so much more, for the content and the ensuing debate.
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I think it is clear why the video was not shown on the ABC’s Gruen Transfer. The ABC is a publicly funded broadcaster and therefore has strict editorial and broadcast guidelines (lest funding be cut off). Needless to say it doesn’t carry paid advertising as part of its charter.
To ask “why didn’t the ABC screen this ad” is naive and the answers are simple. First, they don’t show ads – they show video content. Second, this content breached their broadcast guidelines under their charter.
Like many others when I read the script excerpts I wasn’t sure. When I saw the video I understood where the script was coming from. I agree that it was well cast and shot – but I still wouldn’t rate it as a brilliant or truly great work, even after subequent viewings.
The beauty of advertising – everyone has an opinion.
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All this proved to me was the power of the media, the effectiveness of PR both offline and online. The ad provided proof and that the articles were genuine… That’s about it.
Adam stirred up unnecessary racism remarks for the sake of publicity for people who are slightly prejudice over weight issues.
And no Adam that’s not a good thing!!!
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The banning of this ad has certainly got a lot of press – certainly a good PR stunt if the ABC were savy enough?
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Nikki, the guy who made this ad is obviosly retarded. He is a snobby, left wing maxist. Racial and ethnic backgrounds are not the same as weight issues. He is the one being narrow minded, as are you. The idea that somebody being self conscious about their weight is the same as somebody being jewish is a huge over generlzation. He should of done a puff peice like everyone else dose in that particular segment. The only funny part was watching him try to defend his thoughtless effort. It’s not ok to be overweight, as it is bad for me to be a smoker. Obesity kills
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and you can call me Gil
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And fat jokes are funny, as can jew jokes (Borat). Tell me you didn’t laugh when you watched that, and I won’r believe you
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So this is your best shot? heavy handed prejudice to do what? make it almost fashionable to hate? guys, maybe your heart was in the right place but was your head? I’m hardly the shrinking violet, but i felt this to be a tad offensive i caught myself leaning back looking for a hole to hide in (for the creators) and can i say, are we as a society beyond this type of advertising?
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Gilbert can I just say you’re an idiot. There was a time when a racist, Jew or joke against someone’s sexual orientation would have been completely sociably acceptable, not deemed to be in the same category as whatever was taboo at the time. It is only through bringing the issues to light have the prejudice against these groups become taboo.
As for your “do a puff piece like everyone else” call is concerned, a call like this leads me to believe you’re a man with little imagination, who conforms because he is terrified of what people think of him. But from what I’ve read above it’s safe to say they probably think very little of you. So grow a pair of nuts and think outside your conformist box every now and again!
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Conformist box? I’m the odd one out as far as opinions go in the above posts, you retard. Having the balls to go against the grain is exactly what I do all the time, as demonstrated. Matt, if you decided to use your biggest organ every now and again, you would realize that you are the conformist. I rest my case. Grow a pair of nuts and come up with your own opinion
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