Newest spring lamb ad features a table of deities – Jesus, Muhammad, Moses, Buddha and friends – tucking into an afternoon barbecue

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Its edgy advertising campaigns for lamb have offended vegans and Indigenous groups in the past. Now Meat & Livestock Australia has produced a spring lamb campaign full of deities which may just offend religious sensibilities.

Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard joins various gods, goddesses and prophets including Jesus, God, Aphrodite, Zeus, Buddha, Ganesh and Moses at a long dining table to enjoy a spring barbecue of lamb.

The prophet Muhammad calls up the atheist hostess to excuse himself from the occasion because he has to pick up a child from daycare.

Created by the Monkeys, the television commercial plays on the idea that anyone can enjoy lamb no matter their background, religious beliefs or dietary requirements.

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The chief creative officer at the Monkeys, Scott Nowell, said: “It’s a reality of modern Australia that people of all faiths and backgrounds can get along around a table; coming together to celebrate what unites us as a nation.”

In the ad Jesus performs a “reverse miracle” by turning wine into water so a Grecian goddess who is “designated driver” can safely drive home, and Hubbard jokes that he gave up a meal with Tom Cruise – a high-profile Scientology member – to attend.

The Cruise joke echoes a famous 1990 ad starring the Australian actor Namoi Watts, in which she gives up a date with the Hollywood star to have a lamb roast with mum.

In January the annual Australia Day lamb campaign was described by some Indigenous groups as “highly offensive” and “disgusting”, but attracted only a handful of formal complaints to the Advertising Standards Bureau.

It had a diverse cast and depicted a European invasion without reference to Australian Day, but some critics said Invasion Day was a painful day for Indigenous people and not something to be used for a stunt.

The 2016 Australia Day ad, starring SBS newsreader Lee Lin Chin launching an Operation Boomerang mission to rescue Australians stranded overseas, was one of the most complained about ads of all time – for offending vegans.



In it, Operation Boomerang agents break into an Australian man’s apartment in New York and use a blowtorch on his vegan meal of kale. People complained about the violence because the vegan was seen cowering in the corner.

However, it was cleared by the Advertising Standards Bureau despite attracting more than 600 complaints.

The group marketing manager at Meat & Livestock Australia, Andrew Howie, said at the time that the torching was “metaphorical towards the kale” and is “in no way intended to be abusive or violent”.

Of this 2017 campaign Howie says Meat & Livestock Australia is again trying to “push the creative boundaries”.

“In this latest campaign we are showing no matter your beliefs, background or persuasion, the one thing we can all come together and unite over is lamb,” Howie said.