Operation Boomerang: Is this Australia Day Ad Offensive?

Lee Lin Chin is the face of lamb in MLA's 2016 Australia Day commercial

In 1788 European settlers first landed in Port Jackson, now a part of modern-day Sydney.

Australia Day is celebrated annually on January 26th with picnics, beach parties, sporting events, fireworks and award ceremonies to commemorate Australian achievement and culture.

This year's Australian-Day themed commercial by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) has recently gone under fire for being too violent towards vegetarians and vegans.

The ad launched on Sunday and by Monday morning the Advertising Standards Board (ASB) said it had received more than 50 complaints, claims Daily Mail.

Does the commercial's message represent the spirit of the holiday or has the message been tainted by marginalizing groups of people? Is this ad culturally sensitive?

In the commercial "Operation Boomerang" is a global military effort to bring ex-pat Australians home for a lamb meal.

SBS newsreader Lee Lin Chin goes alongside "Lambassador" Sam Kekovich in promoting the juicy meat. The spot also included cameos from famous Australians such as Wallabies captain Stephen Moore and former cricketer Mitchel Johnson.

Social media has celebrated this ad, even saying it is one of the greatest lamb commercials ever. (I mean I haven't watched many lamb ads, but still.) So while people are offended on one end of the spectrum for the perceived violence against vegans, many find the commercial well produced and make them proud to be Australian.

Watch the commercial below:

It is the scene with the vegan and the blowtorch that has brought on the complaints and has struck controversy.

A team of special agents break into an Australian's  New York apartment.

"Don't worry mate, in a few hours you'll be eating lamb on the beach," says one of the agents from Operation Boomerang.

The man looks up fearfully saying, "but I'm a vegan now."

The team of special agents go on to blowtorch the man's coffee table. Is this response overkill? Everything else about this ad is dramatic and over the top- so is this violence reasonable in context?

While I would rather share pieces of creative advertising that are inspiring to me I think it is important to share ads that are more ambiguous. Ads reflect society- both its progress and its problems. We need to look further in to context to try to understand what ads are really saying. What was the intended meaning and does it correlate with how people are meant to perceive it?

Should diet preferences really cause division and create minority groups? Does there have to be an "us" and "them." Why do we care so much about other people's beliefs and life choices?

Do you think this ad is offensive? What could be changed about it to make it better?

I am not Australian, but having been there I know there is slight touchiness when it comes to race. Like Columbus day in America, Australia day romanticizes European imperialism and the destruction of Aboriginal culture. Some Aboriginals actually refer to January 26th as "Invasion day" because that's what the day meant for their culture.

I think the holiday has come to mean more than it did at its origin. The holiday tries to bring all citizens together and to make each and every Australian proud of their country and their fellow citizen's accomplishments. It is a celebration of home. Aboriginal or of European descent, Vegetarian or Carnivore- it doesn't matter. Everyone is supposed to come together as a family, no matter what part of the globe you are from.

Where ever home is, the little things that make it home come back in nostalgia. I've felt it for the United States when I've been in other countries. I am sure that Australians that don't get to be in Australia for this holiday are in fact thinking about lamb- and the friends and family they usually share it with.

Australian cuisine is all about meat! I remember trying kangaroo, wombat, lamb and emu. So even if someone is a vegan or vegetarian and won't eat meat, it does not take away the fact that barbies (BBQs) are a huge part of Australian culture.

So maybe vegetarians and vegans wouldn't chose to have lamb. This does not make them any less Australian. If anything I think this ad is just poking fun at them. However, people will always get offended when they think a group that they are a part of is being marginalized. Satire is a tricky tool for brands to use. Ads need to be careful when they call out a specific group of people.

Cheers!
Laura