This Lamb Ad Is The Most Diverse Thing To Appear On Australian TV Ever, Take That As You Will
Dream of the day our TV shows look like our lamb ads.
Meat and Livestock Australia are really keen on Australians eating a lot of lamb for some reason, which is why we’ve been bombarded with ‘Hey guys, can you please eat lamb?’ ads since 2005. Some of them — particularly the early ones starring ex-AFL player Sam Kekovich — were sort of amusing for their strangeness. Others, like the Australia Day ‘Operation Boomerang’ campaign starring Lee Lin Chin, did not go down so well.
Lee Lin Chin Stars In Latest Australia Day Lamb Ad; Has Way Too Much Time On Her Hands Right Now
The latest has received a much more favourable reaction. The ad — which has the tagline: “Lamb. The meat that doesn’t discriminate.” — begins with TV presenter Luke Jacobz saying: “I’m here to address concerns that too many perky white males are contributing to a lack of diversity on our our screens”.
Then Jacobz morphs into Bengali-Australian actor Arka Das. And then Indigenous model Samantha Harris appears. And Greg Inglis and Cathy Freeman (Arka Das: “Right, lamb is ready! So, who was here first?” Freeman: “That’d be us.”). And then Jordan Raskopoulos is there. And then two gay dads. And a deaf person. There’s also an old guy in a wheelchair. Then they all have a BBQ together.
If you need to cry, feel free to do that now.
Well I gotta say, this has left me a little confused. The ad — which just to reiterate, is an ad that is designed to sell more lamb — is one of the most inclusive, warm-hearted, silly and diverse thing I have ever seen on Australian television. This ad. This ad for lamb. I’m not the only one trying to work out their feelings right now.
this new ad for lamb is the most diverse thing I've ever seen on australian TV and i don't even know who I am now https://t.co/Gp52Gxy2on
— Bhakthi (@bhakthi) September 5, 2016
Just saw your lamb ad @thearkadas you killed it! Never been on the verge of tears watching meat advertised before. Such a great campaign.
— cousin dragan (@raiderslimemilk) September 3, 2016
Why did I just start crying at the new Meat & Livestock Australia ad about Lamb
— ZAC (@zacves) September 4, 2016
If you feel weird about being moved by a marketing strategy to sell more meat, well, same! But when this ad is providing more representation for people of colour and diverse sexual orientations and bodies than we ever see on Australian TV, it’s hard not to be charmed by it. The campaign may have been created by an agency called The Monkeys, but this is so flawless and convincing that it feels like a Don Draper job.
Lamb.