MLA’s Australia Day lamb campaign breaks record as most complained about ad of all time
Two consumer groups have created very different videos for and against Meat & Livestock Australia’s Australia Day lamb campaign, which has now become the most complained about advert of all time.
By Thursday afternoon the Advertising Standards Bureau had received more than 500 complaints about the ad, breaking its previous record. It will consider whether the ad promotes violence against vegans next week. It beats the record held by Ashley Madison’s 2014 ‘Someone other than my wife’ effort.
One group of expat Australians in the US have seized on the Operation Boomerang concept, where SBS presenter Lee Lin Chin has pledged to bring home Australians to enjoy a lamb barbecue, creating their own online ad they have dubbed “The Boomerang Insurgency”
The video shared on Youtube said that Operation Boomerang needed “boots on the ground support” in countries where beef and pork dominated the menu.
Kim Beazley, Australia’s ambassador to the US, features in the film, helping plan the insurgency where they infiltrated a pre-NFL game tailgating party and exchanged burgers and hot dogs for lamb chops.
The campaign has divided public opinion and some vegans have taken to Youtube to voice their anger.
Anti-animal cruelty activists Aussie Farms have edited a version under the banner of “Hilarious behind the scenes clip from the new Aus Day Lamb ad”.
The clip shows Lee Lin Chin announcing “Commence Operation Boomerang” before cutting to graphic footage of lambs being slaughtered.
Warning: video contains graphic images that may be offensive to some readers
Simon Canning
Oh the Irony!
“Warning: video contains graphic images that may be offensive to some readers”
One cannot simultaneously hold onto the belief that watching slaughtered lambs is offensive while BBQ Lamb is delightful.
The former must happen for the latter to ensue!
If you do then you are suffering from a psychological condition known as-
cognitive dissonance:
“anxiety that results from simultaneously holding contradictory or otherwise incompatible attitudes, beliefs, or the like”
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The behind the scenes tape is a bloody disgrace.
The headline is misleading and deceptive.
The creators should come out of the closet and be shamed.
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One has to wonder if Chris Delorce of Aussie Farms gets his jollies from videos like this. He certainly spends enough time making them that it would seem so
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Are vegans gastronomical terrorists?
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SAM
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Keep u p your good work . This country needs more people like you.
Happy Australia Day BY making people laugh
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What I don’t understand is why there isn’t humane standards that animal farmers and abattiors have to abide by in their animal handling. Is the industry transparent? Do they have regular inspections to make sure they abide by minimum humane standards?
I’m a meat eater but am slowly eliminating meat from my diet because these questions haven’t been answered well enough for me.
I think the add is funny until i think about it, and the issues involved. One issue that hasn’t been mentioned in the commentary I’ve read is – why is a serious journalist appearing in an add that is likely to be controversial? I’ve always watched SBS world news because I’ve thought it was a source of independent journalism. This makes me feel like SBS is seriously compromised in how they can report on this news story.
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Wow!, so many meat industry trolls! Groucho – great question. Are vegan’s gastronomical terrorists? Propagating an industrial and cultural dependence on death is surely terrorism. So is expanding livestock production despite its gastronomically large contribution to green house gas emissions (larger than civilian transport system) (or perhaps you are not scientifically inclined and unable to understand global warming, and so, good luck). Or encouraging children to revere a food that is clearly linked to a lower life expectancy than plant based diets (via higher rates of cancer and heart disease – an effect of excessive proteins, which are unnecessary for bodily function). Who is the terrorist? The meat and livestock industry certainly has you by your meaty cancerous balls. Good luck. PS full vegan fundamentalism is not necessary to make great dietary progress.
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Jump the shark and you can and create a PR pot of gold!
oh vegans, you are a bunch of joyless beasts….
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“What I don’t understand is why there isn’t humane standards that animal farmers and abattiors have to abide by in their animal handling. ”
There is. Strict ones.
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Meat production and consumption = death and misery.
There is no other way to look at it.
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“What I don’t understand is why there isn’t humane standards that animal farmers and abattiors have to abide by in their animal handling. ”
There is. Strict ones.
What are they? Are they enforced? Are there inspections? What are the animal rights activists complaining about?
These are the questions I want answered when this type of issue is raised. Where is the independent penetrative and informative journalism. All I’ve seen and read so far is that there are a record number of complaints and that vegans haven’t got a sense of humour. Nothing much more than that.
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Have a read of this, vegans.
If it wasn’t for them being so damn tasty and a good source of clothing for our ancestors, little Lambie would have been extinct a long time ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep
You’re perfectly ok to fight ~10,000 years of culture, history and tradition (I’m talking farming here, not Australia day). Just don’t get upset when culture fights back.
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People need to lighten up!!! Love the ad
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https://www.change.org/p/ban-australia-day-lamb-ad
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Bravo – Chris Delforce of Aussie Farms, a straight up man of true grit & courage. A man who is not afraid to follow blindly and says it like it is! Unfortunately for the MLA social media and modern times is allowing ‘The behind the scenes’ reality to become common knowledge. In addition recent announcements from The World health Organisation who’ve finally declared meat as a major cause of cancer alongside cigarettes is having an effect on sales and it shows with their rhetorical and insulting marketing tactics. High performance athletes around the world are transitioning to plant based diets in droves and reporting massive increases in efficiency and performance. And the informed medical specialists dealing with triple bypass, cancer survivors, diabetes and the millions of men suffering impotence are now recommending vegan diets! Meat eaters would do themselves a great justice if they did 1/2 the research most vegans undergo regarding lifestyle choices and they would soon realise that the vegan they were hating on is actually their friend. Life is better without blood on our hands.
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Just seen the ad. Cricketers! Rugby players! Blokes being blokey! A bloke with a beard being a vegan – boo! Japanese people looking formal! An Asian lady who looks a bit out of place surrounded by all the white blokes! Don’t worry, she’s Australian!
Of course, vegans aren’t the MLA’s real enemies here – they are just a soft touch that offers a guaranteed laugh for being a bit weird and different*. Despite all the hilarious ads**, per capita lamb consumption has halved since the 80s – while chicken has doubled (both starting from roughly the same point).
*And we don’t like different here in Australia. Now shut up and eat your lamb.
**And bits of the ad were funny, but some of it was just the laziest rubbish imaginable. The kinda stuff that would get rejected from The Footy Show as sub-par.
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