THE ANNUAL summer lamb ad has become something of a tradition on Australian TV screens, ever since “lambassador” Sam Kekovich berated people for being unAustralian back in 2005.

It’s fair to say that opinions are divided over the new lamb ad, which launched today.

The clip, which you can view in full at the top of this post, “sees Australia’s diverse opinions go head-to-head over a modern day barbecue before ultimately showing that lamb is the one thing that brings everyone together”. Look out for the cameo by Kekovich.

It riffs off the West Side Story musical, but instead of the Jets vs. the Sharks we have the political left vs. the right.

Responses to the ad on the news.com.au Facebook page have been mixed.

“Jesus, what a s**t ad,” said one commenter. “I vomited a little,” said another, while many said that they missed the vegan jokes from last year’s campaign.

A number of viewers said the ad was way too long: “Well unless they’re gonna use it at the cinemas as a pre-movie trailer ... Took too long to get to the point. It lost me early in the piece and I would’ve shut it down much earlier had I not known it was going to be about meat and wanted to see how it tied in ... time I won’t get back,” said a rather disgruntled commenter.

More to the point was the comment: “I’d throw something at the telly after that’s been on a few times.”

Amazing work from the lamb council people finally making an ad that everyone can hate equally. 👌 — Tristan eats words (@tristangled) January 10, 2018

But some thought it would be an effective ad for Meat and Livestock Australia:

“Brilliant idea — will have everybody vilifying it — the whole point of advertising is to gain eyeballs on your message ...” wrote one viewer.

“This was very inventive. Gotta go out and buy some lamb chops for supper,” wrote a fan of the ad.