An Australia Day ad campaign from Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) has been criticised for featuring violence against vegans.
The ad sees SBS newsreader Lee Lin Chin and other prominent Australians bringing Aussie expats home to eat lamb on Australia Day in a military-style operation dubbed “Project Boomerang”.
One of the expats, a vegan, has his apartment torched, and the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) says it has received close to 70 complaints, mostly relating to discrimination against vegans, since the ad was launched.
The ad has, meanwhile, gone viral on social media, and has now had nearly 740,000 views on YouTube, making it the MLA's most watched campaign ever.
“We are aware of the complaints, which we're in the process of addressing,” MLA's group marketing manager Andrew Howie told AdNews.
“The campaign sets out to be lighthearted and entertaining. It's a satirical campaign and it has been since its inception 12 years ago and this year is no different.
“The reason we push boundaries is because we're a producer-owned not-for-profit organisation, we set out to entertain every year, unfortunately in trying to appeal to the masses you are not able to appeal to everybody.”
The ASB says an extraordinary meeting has been convened so it can review the ad prior to Australia Day.
“In cases where we receive a high volume of complaints in a short time frame (such as this ad) we ensure the case is processed overall in a shorter time frame,” an ASB spokesperson said.
Last year, MLA's Australia Day ad featured the late Richie Benaud. The ad saw the cricket icon inviting Captain Cook, Burke and Wills, Ita Buttrose, Sam Kekovich, Don Bradman and a gluten-intolerant Ned Kelly, to join him in a lamb barbie.
