We really need to address the ‘elephant in the room’: MLA’s lamb ad goes too far
MLA's latest lamb ad suggests lamb is 'the meat we can all eat', while ignoring the fact that Hindu deity Ganesha, one of the ad's stars, is vegetarian. Linkedin's Shiva Kumar explains how the ad missed the mark.
I am all for creativity. I admire brands that embrace bold and brave campaigns that push the creative territory. But I feel this ‘All Faiths Unite Over Lamb’ campaign by The Monkeys for Meat & Livestock Australia has gone a bit too far.
The intended idea behind this campaign seems to be to create more unity among people of diverse faiths and also for those who don’t believe in religion to enjoy a good conversation and food.
However, it fails to respect the sensitivity associated with diverse cultures and the reason why some religions don’t eat certain food and in this case specifically lamb.
I am Indian by birth, I am vegetarian and I also am Hindu. Ganesha is a god that I believe in and one of the most worshipped deities in the Hindu religion.
Any Indian function doesn’t start without praying for Ganesha who is the remover of obstacles. Ganesha, the elephant god, is also vegetarian.
Not funny then, not funny now
Using phrases like: “It’s a nightmare catering for you lot with all your dietary requirements” doesn’t feel like the best portrayal of an inclusive culture and society to me.
“Toasting to lamb – the meat we can all eat” doesn’t really resonate as a message to people like me who are vegetarians.
I can see that Ganesha’s dinner plate also features lamb in this screenshot from the video, unless there is a divine illusion that we can’t explain!
Ganesha, the vegetarian, ready to dine on lamb
Social inclusion is about efforts being made by everyone in society, including brands, to ensure that everyone’s values and beliefs are upheld. It is about giving and getting mutual respect and dignity.
Brands have a responsibility to be more inclusive even if some segment of their audience might not consume their product. They have to be sensitive and authentic in the way they deliver their message, even if they want to flavour it with a little dose of drama.
I loved Meat & Livestock’s previous ‘Celebrate Australia with a lamb BBQ’ campaign. I think they raise important social issues. In this case, I just feel they missed their mark in the way they executed this important message.
Shiva Kumar is LinkedIn’s head of brand and communications, Australia and New Zealand. This post originally appeared on LinkedIn.
Every depiction is a bit tongue in cheek. Zeus on Tinder, L. Ron Hubbard loving the fame of a Shinto deity, Moses parting the green peas, even a Jedi?
Either they’ve just offended 90% of everyone OR we can recognize that as Australians we can suffer taking the piss out of ourselves.
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There’s an argument there about portraying religious deities to sell lamb, but seriously this is a whine by a vegetarian who is using religion to cloak the fact that he doesn’t like meat. Lets split the two – to not do so is disingenuous.
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Well said. When Pepsi (Kylie Jenner) was forced to pull its ad after a huge backlash – it was clearly a case of a brand missing its mark on a global message of unity, peace and understanding. This MLA ad is yet another example of a brand totally missing its mark on cultural sensitivity and understanding! Lets face it – Australia is multicultural – all of us (Hindu, Muslim, No religion etc etc) make it the wonderful country it is. Be a responsible brand!
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My only critique of this ad is the inclusion of con-artist L. Ron Hubbard amongst the religious leaders.
Other than that, it’s hilarious.
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Duncan – you’re a goose (at best). Religious restriction of diet is not a whim. And if a Hindu tells you Ganesh is a vego, please have the manners to listen to them. I think the objection here is not so much to a tongue in cheek use of religion, but to the poorly judged inclusion of a specific god representing a religion that has many followers (including that chosen deity) who do not eat meat on religious grounds. It’s not about being a fussy pain in the arse dinner guest. To split the two is disingenuous.
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Fair call Shiva. If it was an ad for pork there would be an outrage if it suggested that Muslim or Jewish people of faith should throw their beliefs aside and partake of that product for the sake of “taking the piss out of ourselves” (and yes I’m aware some do but that is hardly the point). And why people like Duncan think you don’t have a genuine grievance based on the inaccurate and in some eyes, offensive portrayal of your religion is known only to Duncan. It’s not a secret that many Hindus are vegetarian, there’s a lot of them and what’s the point of pissing them off? Very strange decision on part of The Monkeys (but then the whole ad is strange…and not in a good way).
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“Toasting to lamb – the meat we can all eat” doesn’t really resonate as a message to people like me who are vegetarians.
duh
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There is a good idea hidden in this terrible execution. It’s not funny enough and it even feels awkward at Times and not in a good “The Office” kind of way.
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I think they only wanted the drama. This doesn’t have the fun of most of the lamb spots (the ones that offended people, and the ones that didn’t) and I don’t think that was ever a priority.
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this ad can only happen in Oz (and in NZ) and this shows what a diverse and also wise culture we have, as in the wise lightheartedness of making fun of oneself. Great job MLA, you did it again!
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““Toasting to lamb – the meat we can all eat” doesn’t really resonate as a message to people like me who are vegetarians.”
Haha. If that message doesn’t resonate with you mr vegetarian….you’re not going to like the product the ad is selling.
…is this article for real???
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But Hinduism does not require a vegetarian diet, and most Hindus (even in India) are not vegetarian and eat lamb/fish/chicken/etc..
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Hmmm …
I wonder if the potential for ‘outraged’ responses was part of the thinking behind this execution?
(Either way, it’s a flawed effort. There’s an idea in there somewhere, but the execution is a confused mess).
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Hindu Council of Australia Facebook post comment section shows the depth of the offense caused to Australia’s Hindu community. An apology and withdrawal of the ad is in order. https://www.facebook.com/hinducouncil.australia/posts/1470163459685811
Very odd that The Monkeys and MLA determined that they should not show the Prophet Mohammed, but showing Ganesh eating lamb was OK.
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This is offensive to Hindus
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It’s clearly not aimed at vegetarians you goose.
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It’s called “humour” and it’s pretty clear anyone uttering the phrase “it fails to respect the sensitivity associated with diverse cultures” takes themselves way too seriously. Freedom of religion means you get to care about whatever mumbo jumbo you like – none of the rest of us have to care or respect your beliefs. In any case, you seem to be claiming you’re the only type of Hindu, when it encompasses such a wide range of beliefs and practices, its diverse amongst itself.
Non-vegetarian Hindus[edit]
Butter chicken, one of many meat preparations found in the Indian subcontinent
Further information: Jhatka and Animal sacrifice in Hinduism
Although Hindus are mainly lacto-vegetarians,[43][47] a large number of them do consume eggs and meat.[48]Hindus who eat meat demand quick and painless death to the animal, a process classified as jhatka (quick death) meat.[4] Many Shaivites also eat meat, who require the Jhatka processing method. Many Vaishnava avoid meat.[49]
Hindus who do eat meat, often distinguish all other meat from cow meat (beef[note 2]). The respect for cow is part of Hindu belief, and most Hindus avoid meat sourced from cow,[43] as cows are treated as a motherly giving animal,[43] and can be considered like another member of the family.[51] Some Nepalese Hindu sects sacrifice buffalo at Gadhimai festival, but consider cow different from buffalo or other red meat sources. Among meat eating Hindus, chicken, and fish are the most popular, followed by lamb and mutton.[52].Meat eating Hindus mostly avoid pork from domesticated pigs but historically meat from a hunted wild boar has been acceptable.
Among Hindus of Nepal, annual festivals mark sacrifice of goats, pigs, buffalo, chickens and other animals, and ritually produced Jhatka meat is consumed.[53]
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The Monkey’s clearly did their research on Muhammed and the crap storm that would have created should they have made a “depiction” of him in an ad. Their would have been a jihad and god forbid quite possibly blood a la Charlie Hebdo.
So why the hell didn’t they research the fact Ganesha is a vegetarian??? Massive misfire with this. Thank heavens Hindus are a more peaceful lot and are politely asking for the ad to be taken down rather than calling all their followers to boycott the meat and call for a holy war on the Monkeys
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In the same way that men often claim that feminists are over-reacting or cray, and racists deny that they are racist – – I wonder how many of the people in this comments section denying there was offense caused are white, anglo, straight, Caucasian cisgender males?
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https://yadusingh.com/2017/09/05/inappropriate-and-not-funny/ This is a good article summarising the Hindu community feeling
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Hahahaha some might argue that they are all con artists. I did hear a quote the other day “whats the difference between a cult and a religion?”. A cult is a group of people being led by a leader with crazy beliefs about a particular personality, object or goal. And a religion is where that person is dead”. I think the quote is from the Joe Rogan special on Netflix I was watching the other night.
I agree the ad is hilarious.
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Many scientists would challenge the opening quote in this article:
‘while ignoring the fact that Hindu deity Ganesha, one of the ad’s stars, is vegetarian’
Might the scientists say that Hindu deity Ganesha is not factual at all and religion starves our progression as a civilization?
(I do not type this to cause harm, more to bring another perspective. Potentially in 100 years time, with information and education so advanced, religion could well be a thing of the past. Certainly in Western cultures it could.)
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I am guessing Mohammad does not make an appearance because…well even if you draw a picture of him (I assume him?) that is grounds for extremists to shoot a bunch of people. I have no idea what would happen if someone actually had to play him in an ad?
Pretty weak that this is where the ad draws the line. Apart from that funny as.
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The dialogue and “acting” had me cringing at every sentence.
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Who’s denying this guy is offended? But so what? People get offended every day, especially religious people. Nothing happens when you get offended.
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A basic knowledge of world religions suitable to get you through weekly pub trivia would have told you that there was an issue with the spot. I seem to recall raising this yesterday. With the long list of names in the credits, seriously this should have been picked up.
Enjoy your moment in the sunshine MLA, maybe a few articles on news.com.au, and a bit of talkback radio, before this awful piece of work sees then end of its numbered days.
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Well said! Bang on!
PS: this is why we need more diversity in creative agencies.
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Today’s headline:”Vegetarian doesn’t like advert promoting meat”. Seriously.
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Had they depicted Mo it would have been more than just lamb being carved this spring.
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It’s not humor if it’s not funny. The ad is poorly targeted satire at best. I don’t think advertising lamb is the best place for a satirical stab at peoples beliefs.
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Wouldn’t say I was outraged, but I understand how many people could be genuinely offended by the ad.
I was more offended by the lack of an idea in the ad, the paucity of thought that significant numbers of people may be offended, and that it was so poorly written and executed.
Some commenters have claimed it was humour and hilarious. Whoa, 2:11 and everyone I know who has seen it barely raised a giggle. You people should get out more and see some of the wealth of good Aussie live comedians.
The strategy of MLA (or is it The Monkeys) seems to be “we’re risky advertisers” and that we won’t be happy until we’ve redefined what risky means. Richie Benaud calling Captain Cook was their apotheosis and it’s all been rapidly downhill since. Now be good little kiddies and run off and come up with a good brand strategy for a change.
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This article clearly establishes a few things:
a) Aussies are still known as red necks all over the world. Obviously lack of respect for other cultures coupled with their inherent racist attitudes, Aussies have cut a sorry figure for themselves across the world. I currently live and work in the US and the Americans have a dismal opinion about Aussies.
b) Here is a joke I heard from an American: What do you do if you run out of chimps for an intelligence test? Get a few Aussies and promise them beer! lol! 🙂
c) These bunch of low life red necks will have the audacity to pick on a peaceful community such as Hindus but they will shit in their pants if you ask them to crack a joke on Mohammad. Cowards and red necks!
d) Lastly what do you expect from descendants of low life criminals, rapists and thugs? That says it all!
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1) It’s ‘rednecks’, not ‘red necks’ dummy.
2) It thoroughly undercuts your argument to decry discrimination and a lack of respect for other cultures when all four of your points are essentially attacking Australia’s people and culture, calling them racists, rapists and thugs. Unless you are Australian of course, in which case it adds support to your argument Australians are idiots.
3) That said, everyone in the world has a dismal opinion of people from the US. Americans cut sorry figures in every other country. Fortunately they never travel so most don’t realise this.
4) In joke b, if these US scientists were studying chimp intelligence, it seems odd to then go and study drunken Australians. In fact, it betrays a low level of intelligence among the American research community.
5) You already told us it was a joke. Smiley face emoticon not necessary.
6) I take exception to your claim it was laugh out loud funny however.
7) Did you watch the ad? It picked on every other religion. Well, except Islam. That is because fanatics tend to come around your house and behead you and your family when you do that. This is not cowardly: it is an accurate threat assessment based on past behaviour. The fault lies with Muslim extremists, not the intestinal fortitude of those who made the ad.
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A non-existent being is a vego – lol. How ridiculous. I’m sorry, but I just can’t get too bothered about the he dietary habits of things that don’t exist.
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Clearly, shows absolutely no research made into cultural background of Hindus. This clearly has offended vegetarian Hindus.
What a shame!! Poorly produced and executed strategy.
I mean, should I be surprised?? – the only knowledge about India in Australia is – butter chicken, curry powder & call centers!!
Hang your head in shame Monkeys. You have made yourselves – Monkeys!!
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I am of one of these faiths, am a vegetarian (but happily roast lamb for my family) and think it’s pretty wonderful. It is a shame that Muhammad missed out, I think the inclusion would’ve been even sweeter. I don’t think the message is riveting, but the actual ad, it’s fun & refreshing. Thankfully Ganesha doesn’t actually eat lamb, that would be too far, but I go to parties all the time where I’m served meat and I simply pass it to the nearest carnivore…
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Hear! Hear! If the Hindu council wants the ad pulled, they need to provide evidence Ganesha is a vegetarian – or indeed – even exists.
Let’s say, for arguments sake, Ganesha does exist, then it still remains to be proven that he would be offended, because it seems to me, if there are any gods they would not be offended by anything so trivial.
So, based on the premise that god does exist, and in fact, Ganesha exists, I put it to the people of Australia that he does not need people to be offended on his behalf. If he is, let him send floods, or whatever it is Hindu gods do when they are mad. I’m sure he is quite capable of defending his own honour.
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I found myself laughing quite a bit. The more you know about the various religions, the more humour you see. Perhaps you don’t have any?
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Actually they mention Mohammad….he cannot make it because he has to pick up the kids…. or something along those lines. I actually thought it was a deep suggestive dig at his sexual preferences.
And….. yes, Ganesh holds a bowl of lamb korma?, but I don’t see it on the plate or consumed.
Actually, I take all the above back. I don’t have time to freeze frame the ad.
I laughed at the ad.
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I’m offended that the Flying Spaghetti Monster wasn’t included! LOL
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Shiva, if you are an adult who believes that out there, somewhere, there is a vegetarian god, with the body of a man and the head of an elephant, that you pray to before you eat, then you have much bigger problems than this advertisement. This is just another example of a member of entitled ethnicity who believes that his own delusional ideology should trump everyone else’s beliefs. It seems nowadays that the more insane and illiberal your religion is, the more compelling is the demand to the moderate members of our society to appease it. This sort of childish belly-aching and complaining must stop. You are absolutely entitled to your opinion, but freedom of speech is something that should be considered every bit as important to the culture of a secular nation as your belief in a elephant-headed man, that lives in the sky and cares about how he is depicted in a television advertisement. For Go… Ganesh’s sake, stop your bleating.
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this ad would never run in many markets, so I applaud the bravery, the strategy and some of the material. however the execution betrays a lack of sensitivity and understanding.
in many cultures vegetarianism goes much deeper than not eating meat. and those religious food principles are afforded a great deal of respect. unfortunately this ad does not do that.
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Having run out of Australians to offend in the name of ‘inclusion’, the Monkeys and MLA have decided to offend the gods.
Of course it’s f-ing offensive, 40 years ago the Catholics would be calling this blasphemy.
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The comments here outline the problem with Australian culture of being brutish, ignorant and insensitive to other cultures. Commentators here are happy to argue that people shouldn’t be offended because their God or Deity isn’t real. All religions should be able to co-exist in Australia. This ad is great because it gives the space available to all religions and atheists to celebrate their own beliefs (excluding Vegetarians/Vegans of course). It’s just a shame that Ganesh wasn’t given the same respect that Mohammad was. Mohammad wasn’t shown due to Islamic religious beliefs, not because of extremist views, and there was no need to highlight extremists attitudes and behaviours here taht don’t reflect the mainstream Islamic faith.
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The Ad deserved greater level of research. While it is not forbidden for Hindu followers to eat meat, there’s a problem when the Diety himself is portrayed to eat meat. To have Ganesh eat meat is akin to having Zeus switching roles with Aphrodite or a Jedi performing fireball magic. The ad is able to take liberties with many of the Gods portrayed, while maintaining some of their defining characteristics. But not so much for Ganesh.
I’ve done my own simple search and there’s only one article that talks about a village that serves alcohol and meat to Ganesh.
There are many gods in Hinduism to choose from; some of them aren’t necessarily vegetarians. Perhaps those could have been used instead.
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The other bit that feels a bit of a slippery slope is Buddha – while in the Theravada sect of Buddhism allows for monks to eat meat, I think the Buddha himself (in this case it’s Budai, the laughing buddha) may be vegetarian.
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Imagine if the Monkeys had been engaged by the Japanese Whaling Research Institute to make an ad about the tastiness of whale meat. Pretty sure the carnivores here would be outraged.
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Hi Mumbrella Team
Given this is causing quite a stir, where are your articles on it? Other issues invoke multiple articles, is the lack of comments from you because of a bias to The Monkeys that you have praised in the past. Before a knee jerk defensive reaction please consider how it looks.
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Hi “Bias”
You mean like this one? https://mumbrella.com.au/christian-jewish-buddhist-and-hindu-leaders-unite-to-criticise-lamb-ad-470768
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
It’s an absolute turd of an ad…
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Another vegetarian complaining about a meat ad… come on, don’t you have anything else to talk about? No one cares how it made you feel, you are not the within the intended target audience anyways.
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If that is what you find funny then good for you. It’s nice to set the bar so low you can’t help falling over it.
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This is an insult to All Australians, Hindus and all spiritual people all over the world. I am sure this is intentionally done to media limelight.
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