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AussieMite tells Catholics: Sorry about our deliberately controversial ad. We had no idea it would be offensive

aussiemiteDays afters saying that it was launching a deliberately controversial ad poking fun at the Catholic Church, AussieMite has withdrawn it, claiming it did not mean to cause any offence.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.”

aussiemite twitter

 

Another angry Catholic was told by the brand “we forgive you”.

aussiemite forgive twitter

 

Another message from AussieMite told consumers “don’t waste energy” by being offended.

aussiemite energy twitter

The brand also questioned whether it was “necessary” for people to be offended.

twitter aussiemite necessaryAussieMite 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 victims

 

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.

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