{"id":134632,"date":"2017-09-11T07:24:30","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T13:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=134632"},"modified":"2017-09-11T08:48:08","modified_gmt":"2017-09-11T14:48:08","slug":"lamb-eating-elephant-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/11\/lamb-eating-elephant-room.html","title":{"rendered":"The Lamb-Eating Elephant in the Room"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

Problem is, one of the deities involved — the Hindu god Ganesh — is famously vegetarian.<\/p>\n

That’s led to a diplomatic squabble with India, not surprisingly, not to mention protests from Hindus in Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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?)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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