AussieMite tells Catholics: Sorry about our deliberately controversial ad. We had no idea it would be offensive
Days afters saying that it was launching a deliberately controversial ad poking fun at the Catholic Church, AussieMite has withdrawn it, claiming it did not mean to cause any offence.
The ad – created by Sydney agency Grown Ups – featured Communion bread from the Catholic Church’s ritual of the Eucharist being dipped in AussieMite spread. The ad ends with the line “It’s sacrilicious”.
The brand now claims that it was surprised that anybody found the ad to be sacrilegious.
In a press release issued when the ad first launched, the agency said the ad “is bound to attract publicity due to its contentious nature”.
The ad led to a string of complaints on the AussieMite Facebook page. Over the weekend, AussieMite published a message on Facebook saying:
“To all our customers and anyone we may have upset with our ad. We sincerely apologise for any offence caused. It was never the intention to do so, but we recognise that for some it did. We have listened to your comments and removed any and all instances of the campaign from our social media channels.
“We are a small family-owned company looking to establish ourselves and a product we believe in and love. We sincerely hope that this will not dissuade you from buying AussieMite in the future.
“Best wishes, AussieMite”
Despite the apology, the brand has also been fuelling the topic on Twitter telling protesters not to waste energy and tweeting links to stories about the Victorian child sex abuse inquiry. It claimed if its ad: “It was just to highlight how delicious AussieMite is.”
Another angry Catholic was told by the brand “we forgive you”.
Another message from AussieMite told consumers “don’t waste energy” by being offended.
The brand also questioned whether it was “necessary” for people to be offended.
AussieMite also suggested that it could launch “a new AussieMite wafer thin” and in response to a suggestion that it used the proceeds to make a donation to “inocent victims” of the Catholic Church, it then linked to a news story about the Victorian child abuse inquiry.
AussieMite, launched last year by an Adelaide family firm, is unrelated to Dick Smith Foods’ similarly named OzEMite.
Calls and emails to AussieMite’s PR agency went unanswered this morning.
A spokesman for the Advertising Standards Bureau told Mumbrella that it had received about 50 complaints regarding the ad.
Voluntarily associating your product with child sex abuse is a silly move.
I’m offended the Catholics were offended…. I’d watch my back Aussiemite people, remember salman rushdie……
Perhaps AussieMite should reference Islam in their follow-up advert and see the reaction they get.
Great Ad Guys. Considering that the catholic church has offended humanity its ok for for a little tongue in cheek to be directed at them.
it got you noticed. and it got a message across – Well done.
Lamest ad controversy ever.
Ok so I just watched the ad after reading all of the comments and personally I don’t see the huge harm – a woman dipping her wafer in Aussiemite before eating the Eucharist? It’s in celebration of Christ’s last supper after all? How do we know that Christ mightn’t enjoyed it? She certainly did and at the end of the day did she lose her faith because of it?
I’ve made jokes about BYO jam and not once was I struck down in fit of smite’y rage from the Lord above.
I don’t see how the Catholic Church could be so offended? It was a little tongue in the cheek humour. But then again it wasn’t the Catholic Church that took to twitter in indignant outrage.
I don’t see the relationship between showing the Catholic church in a humorous light and child abuse? Twitter enlightened me of that weak watery connection.
The Catholic church does allot of good in the community, it also has to answer for the harm that it contributed… and it will.
However it is not on twitter or any other social media outlet that we will hold trial for the atrocities committed by men appointed to uphold and promote the name of Christ.
It will be held in a court of law and judged by peers of our community – and no where else! To hold a trial by social media will do a great disservice to those who suffered.
So to those who associate this tongue in cheek ad with the atrocities committed – shame on you! To make light of something so serious and to place it in such a frivolous light – shame!
This ad is nothing more than a piece of humour to promote a brand, it is not the undermining the Catholic faith and it is not associating itself with child abuse. It is ridiculous to say anything else
@ Richard … Lamest ad ever – cheap shot at an easy target. A prime example of what’s wrong with “creative” advertising – no idea of anything beyond their own smart-arsed thought bubbles.
Well, it is offensive to mock something Catholics consider Holy. Does it make me angry? no because it so common to be anti-Catholic now. I often wonder if anti-Catholics would allow imams and rabbis to be mocked. I am appalled at what my German neighbor said how certain Germans used to go crazy when they saw the rabbis with the curls, etc. I guess Muslims and Jews are smart to not allow their religions to be mocked. Catholics are more tolerant even with anti-Catholics i guess.
IS JESUS GOD OR SO-CALLED SON OF GOD?
God Almighty created Adam. If there would have been a son,
he should have been Adam, but Almighty did not call him my
ONLY son.
Why did God have to wait thousands of years to have a son.
If it was in His Plan, He could have said, “Adam is my son.”
If you believe in a Virgin Birth and Jesus is a Word of God, then
there is no husband of Mary and no father of your so-called god.
If Jesus is your so-called god, then Who is God Almighty (up in Heavens)?
You say your so-called god died but my God does not die. He is Eternal.
If your so-called god died, then who was running the show? THINK?
Your so-called god tells me not to kill, then turns around and kills his only
so-called son. Your so-called god is a BLOODY hypocrite. I cannot believe
in your so-called god.
My God did not allow Abraham to kill his ONLY (first born) son.
I believe in that God, Who practices what He preaches.
If your so-called god died for your sins, then why is there a Day of Judgment?
You should be able to walk straight into the Heavens. THINK AGAIN!
If your ticket is fixed, you don’t have to go to the court. PERIOD!
Of course your people are ignorant and not religious at all, because they believe in this nonsense, which does not appeal to my common sense. They know nothing
about their own religion but are experts on all other religions.
Finally, for you is your religion and for me is mine.
You are going into your grave and I am going into mine.
You are going to be answerable to your so-called god,
and I am going to be answerable to my God, the Lord
of the Heavens and the Earth and whatever is in it.
Almighty God created Adam and Eve and not Adam or Steve
or Eve and Geneve, to marry and multiply and to procreate.
The Holy BIBLE says marry and multiply,
but the POPE says don’t. Use boys and girls,
and don’t worry about the consequences.
I will take care of it as I have money to pay
the victims to keep their mouths shut.
Who is the Divine Authority, God Almighty
up in Heavens, or POPE in Rome, Italy?
Jesus never said worship me. He said,
“Worship my Lord and your Lord, my
Father and your Father (up in Heavens).
But POPE says worship Jesus and/or Mary.
THINK and then decide whose side you are on.
This is a train wreck……. These guys are advertising and PR hacks. Obviously a bunch of out of touch, GROWN UPS!
Their big mistake (apart from deliberately setting out to offend anyone in the first place), was that they thought they were offending “The Catholic Church” ie what they perceive to be the institutional church. The people that they actually ended up offending were not the church leaders but the many thousands of ordinary Catholics who go to Communion each week. These are the same mums and dads who might’ve actually bought this product to put on their kids’ lunches. Their ongoing comments on Twitter show that they still haven’t worked this out. They still think they’re in some kind of oh-so-hilarious spat with the Church. Rather, they have sparked a serious war against the very consumers they set out to attract. Go figure.
Disgusting, blashphemous, religiously intolerant. No Catholic should support these people. May God forgive them. Pray for them. They are pathetically ignorant and know not what they do.
Easy target. They should try doing a TVC about how well it goes with pork at a Bar Mitzva or in a Halal kebab. See what happens then.
I fear that too many people have become addicted to the notion of being offended or insulted.
We have been taking, on the one hand, a serious approach, and on the other a humorous approach to religion for centuries. Back in the 50s 60 and 70s when many would think that the church would have been even more conservative than today, there were jokes about Priests and Bishops and the odder rituals and mores of the established church.
The notion of zesting up the almost tasteless communion wafer with a dip in the “Aussie Mite” is a fun and a funny suggestion.
I have no idea what form god has or should have, but whatever he / she / it looks like or however god works, I doubt that there could an absence of a sense of humour. Who would want or even wish for a humourless god.
Of course they knew they were being offensive, what were they trying to prove?
Fuck catholics. I’m in.
It’s an OK ad for what it is. I’ve seen far edgier ads in Italy, mocking the Pope himself, so our local flock should probably wind their self-righteous necks in.
Moreover, I heartily recommend a skim of Aussiemite’s twitter feed. It’s especially heartening to read the godly things the godly say, when their imaginary-sky-fairy rituals are mocked.
@anontdh what have you been smoking? ….Maybe a concoction of wafer and aussiemite
This is a site for discussions about advertising not a religious sermon/barrage
@anontdh.. woah. Just…..WOAH.
I laughed. According to some that means I’m headed for the flames of eternity? Eh. @Brent, that made me HAH out aloud.
If this is the most horrific thing people have to fire up about today. High five.
The message is out there AussieMite. I’m at least tempted to try it!
This commercial is not particularly offensive. The ensuing backflip and social strategy is, but the ad is not. It’s rather lighthearted and it’s not denigrating the Catholic Church. So to assume it offended every Catholic in Australia is a big stretch. And even if it did, it’s only 25% of the market. That leaves 75% – a massive slice of a market deeply entrenched in Vegemite. If they get noticed by that many people they’re doing ok.
You don’t understand unless you have been brought up with the rituals. Only Priests can touch the hosts/bread. If a crumb drops only the Priest can pick it up. It took 100’s of years for helpers called Accolytes to be able to touch a host. This ad is incredibly sacriligious to me because of 50 years of observing the traditions. If they did it to cause controversy, then there will be a lot of us coming down on them. If it was pure ignorance then the brand loses credibility and respect.
The comments criticising this ad are understandable from the catholic loonies as they follow a guy in a pointy hat and it reminds them of the point on the top of their heads ffs. @WRONG your name just seems so perfect for you.
So the protectors pf paedophiles are upset with a TV commercial that takes a tongue in cheek approach to their traditions, if they put as much energy in protecting children of church goers, they may have some credibility, but alas they have none. I hope the client has some balls, uses his noggin and rejects this religious zealot puffery.
Where is the FB page from these same zealots requiring and apology form Pell? Isn’t molestation by priests a far more serious subject than a humorous TV commercial that uses thei tradition to make a fun point?
So of course people are rightly offended by this harmless ad…but for some strange reason they’re not offended by catholic priests raping and molesting children and having it covered up by other priests and bishops etc.
I’ve tried the stuff and it is simply horrible. I guess this is why the company had to resort to shock advertising.
@anontdh, can I be on the side of reason or do I have to pick one silly superstition over another?
The Catholics will be happy that this will deflect from the current kiddy fiddling controversy.
@anontdh, put down the pipe and get help.
Go marmite!!
A totally harmless and inoffensive ad. The religious far right in Australia (and elsewhere) get way too much airtime. They represent a minority of Australians, and clearly lack a sense of humour.
My only issue with the ad is how many Australians there are who wouldn’t know what the hell (pun!) a communion wafer is. Possibly a large target audience might be bewildered by the little round white thing … has potential for Sakata!
Client briefs agency to produce “viral” ad.
Client approves ad.
Ad goes goes viral.
Client distances themselves from ad viral they initiated, approved and paid for.
Sound familiar?
I’d buy AussieMite on the basis of your ad alone. It wasn’t offensive, just playful. If people can’t see the humour in their religious beliefs, let them eat cake.
Problem with my buying your product, though, is that (1) I no longer live in Australia, and (2) I couldn’t stand Marmite (I’m a Yank). I’d buy it anyway though if I were in the neighborhood.
Good on you, and here’s wishing you the best with your product. Why not market it to the “irreverent” younger crowd instead of the “mums and dads” who would’ve spread it on their kiddies’ bread?
This humour is reminiscent of the late Dave Allen, does anyone remember his very funny weekly digs at both the Catholic and the various Protestant churches?
Someone (I think it was DS) mentioned the Islamic faith, and I immediately thought of the comedic character Citizen Khan and the cracks that he makes regularly about the Mosque and the prayers in his own home.
I think all of us should strive to see the funny side of our more serious endeavors and beliefs.
This does not imply that we have a right to demean the faith deliberately, but making light of an otherwise solemn ritual can do no harm in a general sense.
I think what their apology means to say is they are very, very sorry they were duped by the gay and liberal agenda into thinking that there aren’t enough Christians in the world that could significantly boycott their business. But as far as being unintentionally offensive, the ending word proves that they were intentionally being exactly that -offensive.
Yeah, sure, cowards=aussimite ad agency….idiots are is dancing and high-fiving like they made a touch-town, but
they had a soft target….bet they’re not flip enough to continue joking and dancing while running from offending the mullahs, imans, and rabid and crazed, brain washed mosque attendees who shoot defenseless grammar school girls, stone, be-head, blow-up, rape, bravely honor kill women but not men, etc…I’d say, while the Priests are a pestilence to Catholics, at least the Catholics can leave or stay, while the entire world suffers from the attentions and applications of the Islamic religion.
Such a clever ad. One wonders about the ethics of Catholics if this is what offends them. Perhaps the agency should have gone the whole hog and shown little choir boys in the background tittering over their own jar of the spread.
If they need to offend any group to be noticed, then they are nothing but a group of disgraceful losers.
The advertising agency is showing the world their lack of class and ideas.
These days, genius for anything seems to have completely disappeared, and vulgarity is rife.
How sad.
Ok. Offensive to some people. Also, offend some people, create an uproar, get your product name out there and make lots of money. All in all, a pretty scummy way of making money. Does it matter who gets offended?
“Sacralicious” – Simpsons rip off
Great ad either way, they’ve prob received more brand awareness than they would have from their proposed media schedule.
Aussiemite’s website and this media company would have receive more unique page views than they would have hoped for.
I’ll support the brand as its Australian, for the record I like the ad and was surprised at the level of criticism.
I declare, that eating “AussieMite” is a Sin!!! The Muslims and Jews are laughing at you Catholics. I guess you are not upset being the followers of institutionalised pedophilia.
Inappropriate…but it’s a communion wafer, not the Body of Christ. I can assure you the host was not consecrated in the making of the ad. Not a good image, but it speaks more to the general ignorance of the Eucharist of us Catholics.
That’s the end of AussieMite for me and for our huge Clan — never again!
Not only is aussie mite now forbidden in our home, we told all our Jewish and Muslim friends and neighbours that pork is its secret ingredient.
They needed an ad like this because their product is so bad.
You eat the Flesh of your God and Drink it’s blood?
Sounds like a Vampire Cult to me.
Love the advertisement, as in all things, if you’re Catholic/Christian and offended.
Toughen Up. You’re responsible, for The Crusades, The Inquisition, Witch Burning, Slaughtering millions of Native North American Indian and African Tribes who wouldn’t convert.
You and your Cult are whats wrong with the world.
“Heathens don’t beg our gods for favours, we honour them with our actions”
STUPID AND SILLY on BOTH sides!!!!
What a cluster fcuk! Lets all calm down our tits.
Catholics have no reason to be offended. Its a yeast spread on a wafer! While not hugely creative Aussiemite is clever, it pissed off 25% (apparently catholic) of the population just to reach the other 75%. How much did they spend?
If say that’s some pretty cost efficient reach.
obviously this product is rubish only fit for the pigs
who advertie it
Fuck it’s great to be free to say whateva you fuckin’ like. Freedom of speech fuckin’ rocks!!
To keep everyone happy in future adds, you could smear some Aussiemite on the Koran and, then, picture a circumcised penis being dunked in it for the second add.
Btw you don’t have to be a catholic to be a pedophile. If you were a pedophile wouldn’t you head for the Catholic Church? Perfect cover.
Also I find those that knock Catholics are a bit jealous of our faith and traditions. Most of us don’t choose to be Catholic but it’s been a comforting trip so far.
What else can you say? Juvenile and hack-like and offensive. They say there is no such thing as bad press. Well we are about to find out … my guess it that in this case, there will be bad press. Granted this product is Aussie based where there are far less Catholics & Christians but America is still about 70% Christian and while there wouldn’t be a huge uproar here, people just wouldn’t buy your product. Enjoy your 15 minutes of Twitter fame, and then watch your product fail miserably. Maybe a forgiving Christian will hire your unemployed rear ends for a job in the mail room.
It’s all puerile mumbo jumbo. Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, whatever, mock the whole silly bloody lot of them.
Anything for a buck, right?
The real point is: Catholics are the church that covered up and still cover up a major ring of Paedophiles, the point here is; that they, (The Catholic Chruch and catholics) consider this minor TV commerical issue as more important than child rape and molestation, where is the Facebook twitter and other media attacks from the church defending innocent children? Stunned silence, this is what makes the catholic church and its members hypocrites. You have totally ignored criminal activity in your churches and find a TV campaign that makes fun of your stupid rituals more important than people (Priests) within your church undertaking criminal activity, find a new religion, your old one stinks.
May Lord have mercy on your soul
May he smite you with Aussiemite
Who says it’s the Catholics?
I’ve been to communion in an Anglican church that looked a lot like the scene in the ad.
Anglicans call it “high church”.
Probably it IS meant to represent the Catholic church but I love how everyone just assumes that.
It strikes me as being in bad taste considering how seriously people take that and I find it funny that the problem was underestimated. Then on reading how bad some comments are, am inclined to be far more sympathetic and relaxed about it.
Silly call but hardly a crime. Funny for the wrong reasons but it’ll blow over.
I object far less after seeing some of the backlash.
If you are an Australian imagine AussieMite has set the commercial not in a Church but at a Dawn Service ceremony on Anzac Day. The sun is coming up and the bugle is playing and Australians are processing and laying wreaths at the tomb of the unknown soldier, paying their respects.
In the next scene a lady approaches the tomb but does something a bit different…She dips the Australian flag into a giant tub of Aussie mite covering it in black, gooey stuff, and then she drapes this tarred flag over the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Would you feel this was sacrilegious? Would you think the advertising company who had created it had gone too far?
The Australian flag, especially in the context of the Dawn Service, is sacred as it represents the sacrifice of Australian soldiers who gave their lives up for their country
To dip the sacred Holy Eucharist into a jar of AussieMite is really offensive, I would say even more offensive than the above example.
Laura,
Had AussieMite been available during WW1 our Diggers would have been much happier given their circumstances. As for the uUnknown Soldier, I suspect he would have a smile on his face and would be licking his lips, thankful for a touch of home.
Nice try Laura in conflating the Eucharist with Gallipoli.
The difference being, Laura, that Australia exists and the sacrifice at Gallipoli actually happened, within (almost) living memory.
On the other hand, there is no reasonable evidence of god’s existence. And certainly none that (s)he does not have a broad sense of humour about the rituals humans have made up for their own benefit.
Fucking amateurs, everyone knows I’m boss of the brown spreads. Vegemite, fuck yeh!!!
All those ones who believe both the Church and the Firm AussieMite made a mistake, well, they are wrong! In the early days of Christianity, communnion was made by using bread or any other stuff similar to it, and the Middle Age people never complained like you, chicky cunts! the Church needs money to support Missions throughout the world, the Caritas Organization, to feed poors in the major cities in Europe, and the use of a wafer or any symbolic material to be used in Communnion, doesn’t change the spirituality of the rite, neither offend anyone, especially those ones who never enter a Church, silly bastards! I reckon it’s the best way the Church operates to take some money by Ad, instead of begging people inside its temples.