A controversial lamb ad featuring religious figures has been banned after the Indian government complained about the depiction of the vegetarian Hindu god Ganesha.
More than 60 groups, including the Indian High Commission in Canberra, swamped the Advertising Standards Bureau with complaints in September.
The board initially initially rejected those complaints against Meat and Livestock Australia but one of the initial complainants demanded a review.
Jesus, Ganesh, Aphrodite and L Ron Hubbard join the world’s religious leaders in the latest, and arguably most controversial lamb ad yet (pictured)
The ad has now been taken off air after the advertising standards committee concluded this week that it breached Section 2.1 of the advertising code, which bans content that discriminates against or vilifies a group of people.
‘The board recognised that the advertiser is known for presenting laid back advertisements with edgy Australian humour,’ the bureau said.
‘However, the board considered that the advertiser had given inadequate consideration to how seriously some Australians take their religious views – and did not pay due attention to the level of offence about something important to those people.’
In the lamb ad, Ganesha was joined by Jesus, Aphrodite and Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard but not the Muslim prophet Mohammad.
At the table, Buddha asks if they should ‘address the elephant in the room’.
‘It was not funny two and a half thousand years ago, it’s not funny now,’ Ganesha answers poking a trunk at Buddha as the other table guests laugh.
Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) released the ad (pictured) on Monday, and by Tuesday it was referred to the Advertising Standards Bureau over an apparent lack of sensitivity in its portrayal of religious leaders and divinities
The board of the Advertising Standards Bureau found the lamb ad was discriminatory
The complaints began a day after the ad went to air in September.
The India government called for the ‘offensive’ two-minute advertisement taken off air for hurting ‘religious sentiments’.
The government representing 1.3 billion people of the mainly Hindu nation objected to the depiction of Ganesha as an elephant-like, lamb-eating human sitting next to Jesus and across the table from Buddha.
The advertisement attracted a huge backlash, with viewers slamming it as ‘ignorant’.
‘This is really disgusting guys! Please bring down this ad. As ignorant as you are, the Elephant God does not eat meat,’ one man said.
‘This is disrespectful to Hindu religion, hurting our sentiments and a senseless campaign. Your team has got it totally wrong by implying Lord Ganesha is having lamb at the dinner table with other gods,’ another man said.
‘For your information, Hindu gods and meat do not go together.’
In the ad, Jesus is joined by an alien, a Buddhist and other gods and goddesses to enjoy a lamb lunch, with an atheist (pictured) announcing: ‘What about we toast to lamb, the meat we can all eat?’
The advertisement (pictured) attracted a huge backlash, with viewers slamming it as ‘ignorant’
Others ‘demanded’ the ad be withdrawn immediately.
‘I demand an unconditional apology and that you revoke this campaign immediately,’ one man said.
In the ad, the Gods poke fun at Ganesha and say ‘So can we address the elephant in the room?’ to which the Hindu god replies ‘It’s not funny, it wasn’t funny two and a half thousand years ago and it’s not funny now’.
The ad also makes a joke at Scientology’s expense.
Since the ad (pictured) was released on Monday, a Hindu group has issued a formal request to the Australia Advertising Standards Bureau to ban the ad
When Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard discovers Aphrodite is ‘famous’ he offers her some lamb and says: ‘Have you ever thought about Scientology?’
Hubbard is urged to steer clear of religious based discussion at the table, to which he replies: ‘I gave up dinner with Tom Cruise for this.’
While gods from most religions made an appearance, Mohammad, the prophet and founder of Islam, was absent.
The depiction of Mohammad has been a contentious issue, with Islamic teachings banning Muslims from drawing him.
His lack of appearance in the ad prompted backlash.
The depiction of Muhammad has been a contentious issue, with Islamic teachings prohibiting Muslims from drawing him
While there were hundreds of comments calling for the ad to be dumped, some (pictured) were more supportive of its message
‘Poor ad. Obviously scared of offending Muslims, leaving Muhammad out, but all other religions are fair game,’ one man said.
A Hindu group has issued a formal request to the Australia Advertising Standards Bureau to ban the ad.
Hindu community leader Rajan Zed said Lord Ganesha was ‘highly revered in Hinduism and he was meant to be worshiped in temples or home shrines and not to be used in selling lamb meat for mercantile greed’.
‘Linking Lord Ganesha with meat was very disrespectful and highly inappropriate.’
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed said Lord Ganesha was ‘highly revered in Hinduism and he was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be used in selling lamb meat for mercantile greed’
‘Linking Lord Ganesha with meat was very disrespectful and highly inappropriate’ said Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, and some online commenters agreed (pictured)
While there were hundreds of comments calling for the ad to be dumped, some were more supportive of its message.
‘Oh come on, it’s a joke and I find it hilarious, especially the Tinder match and about Tom Cruise,’ one man said.
‘Didn’t you notice the message about ‘getting along together’?’
‘I demand an unconditional apology and that you revoke this campaign immediately,’ one man said (pictured)
Some Facebook users (pictured) did not approve of the ad and took MLA to task over its ‘belittling of religion’
The advertisement was not the first to land Meat and Livestock Australia in trouble.
The MLA released a controversial Australia Day campaign in 2016 in which it spoke about racial insensitivity.
The ad garnered more than 400 complaints but was eventually cleared by the Australian Advertising Standards Bureau.
The advertisement (pictured) was not the first to land Meat and Livestock Australia in hot water