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MLA marketer: our stunt video is not a copy of Benetton ‘Unhate’ campaign

Meat & Livestock Australia’s marketing head has said that the similarity between in an MLA stunt video and a global ad campaign by Benetton is “a coincidence”.

The MLA video, reported this morning by Mumbrella, features two opposing politicians kissing – the same idea used in Benetton’s ‘Unhate’ campaign, which won the press grand prix at Cannes in June.

Group marketing manager Andrew Cox told Mumbrella: “I saw that campaign [Benetton Unhate], but I didn’t make a connection between it and ours. It’s more of a coincidence. The idea of two opposing figures embracing each other has been been done before, and will be done again. The idea is executed differently, and the message is different.”

Cox revealed that while the barbecuing chefs were filmed on the lawn around Parliament House, the balloons were shot in Sydney and added to the film using digitally animation.

“We were nervous about how the video would look. We didn’t want it to look embarrassingly fake,” he said. “But we’re very happy with it, and it’s only been in the last few years that something like this has been possible.”

BMF created the video, which has amassed almost 7,500 views on YouTube.

Cox added that he was surprised by the uptake of the video, which was seeded to select people on Facebook and via personal tweets, before it was uploaded to YouTube ahead of the official launch.

“You can’t control how quickly things are picked up in social media,” he said.

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