That lamb ad sure is diverse, but there's a few things not right about it

Like clockwork each year, an ad spruiking lamb becomes the talk of Australia, just before the country’s contentious national holiday, Australia Day — also known as “Invasion Day” or “Survival Day.” 

Following on from their effort last year, Meat and Livestock Australia’s new ad is all about celebrating diversity. But despite the landmark casting effort and message of goodwill, the advertisement misses the point for many. 

It starts with a group of Indigenous Australians meeting on a beach for a barbecue, as boats from other countries gradually arrive, their diverse passengers enjoying the impromptu gathering.

Then someone points out “boat people” — the term often used to refer to asylum seekers — to which ex-Masterchef Australia contestant Poh Ling Yeow replies “aren’t we all boat people?”

A lovely message, no doubt, and one that seems to have gone down well with a lot of people on Twitter.

So when can we #ChangeTheDate?

The ad features only a subtle nod to the call to change the controversial day that currently falls on January 26th A.K.A. the anniversary of the arrival of European settlers, and the beginning of the deaths of countless thousands of Indigenous Australians due to colonisation.

For this reason, the ad is also being seen as a mere distraction from the conversation we should be having — a sugar-coated one at that.

“My goal is trying to get the date of Australia Day changed, and the blind patriotism that goes along with it reduced, not merely extended so that everyone else can be just as blindly patriotic to the notion of ‘Australianity’ or mateship, or ‘One Nation’ or whatever we are calling it these days,” wrote Indigenous X founder Luke Pearson on NITV.

“I’m sure many people will consider this ad to be a great step forward for representation in Australian media, but personally, I still remember their racist ads of recent years, and I am not buying that this attempted shift of focus has anything other to do with trying to sell more lamb, which I am also not buying,” he added.

A change from the original script

Concerns were previously raised about an early draft of the ad’s script, which was leaked to BuzzFeed. 

Ad agency The Monkeys allegedly found it “difficult to cast the Aboriginal characters due to Indigenous actors feeling like the commercial trivialises the violent British settlement of Australia.”

The final version of the ad, appears to have changed from the leaked script.

“With every creative process there are multiple concepts floated before the final content is delivered. We made the point publicly when a version of the script was made public that it was a very early draft of one concept and the final content has moved significantly since then,” Andrew Howie, Group Marketing Manager at Meat and Livestock Australia, told Mashable via email.

“With this campaign we consulted widely with various community groups in the development of the ad, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community leaders and groups such as Reconciliation Australia.”

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