The group Meat and Livestock Australia is under fire (apparently once again) for a new ad touting Australian lamb. The concept is sort of fun — gods and goddesses and similar religious figures from a number of faiths gathered around a lunch table, enjoying (of course) lamb.
Problem is, one of the deities involved — the Hindu god Ganesh — is famously vegetarian.
That’s led to a diplomatic squabble with India, not surprisingly, not to mention protests from Hindus in Australia.
The ad itself is mildly amusing, in a subdued non-reverent way. A number of the jokes in the full-length ad fall a little flat. I have no doubt the same ad, in America, would spark other controversies. But it remains a little hard to believe that the MLA actually got “extensive consultation with religious experts,” while still missing this little detail. (What next, a follow-up pork ad featuring Mohammed?)
My read, from across the Pacific, is that the MLA actually likes a bit of controversy, based on previous ads they’ve run, and considers it a feature, not a bug. If so, I do hope they get their hand slapped, hard. Using religion to sell stuft, esp. with humor, requires a certain degree of sensitivity to how potential customers might react. While not all Hindus are vegetarian, ignoring that sort of thing (or intentionally flouting it for publicity’s sake) seems like dodgy business indeed.
The MLA is perfectly correct in giving as much offence to as many people as possible every year. Vegetarians and their fundamentalist wing, vegans, particularly deserve to be reviled and denigrated. Religion isn't an acceptable excuse for their behaviour.*
(*See who I'm emulating here: https://youtu.be/ZtWVJikNnx4)
Now, on a much more serious note, here is a real perfidy of the MLA: Live export.
There's nothing funny here:
mobile.abc.net.au – Vet removed for exposing appalling conditions on live export ships – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
MLA and ALEC work hand in glove through LiveCorp:
http://www.livecorp.com.au/about-us/introduction
+Travis Bird (Was briefly confused, as ALEC is an acronym used for a very different organization here in the states.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council
+Travis Bird 'Vegetarians and their fundamentalist wing, vegans, particularly deserve to be reviled and denigrated. Religion isn't an acceptable excuse for their behaviour.'
That seems a bit … out of nowhere, without more context.
+Curt Thompson, this is the video I was talking about.