Shadow Minister for Communications and MP from Greenway, Michelle Rowland says the bar for finding discrimination or vilification is “relatively high” in Australia due to the freedom of speech. However, she said it’s important to recognise religious values in multicultural Australia.
The Advertising Standards Bureau rejected complaints against a video ad of Meat & Livestock Australia promoting lamb that showed Hindu deity Ganehsa sitting around a lunch table with gods and goddesses of different religions who were shown eating meat and sipping wine.
Members of the Hindu community in Australia and overseas expressed their outrage, many complaining to the ASB demanding a ban on the ad. Michelle Rowland whose electorate of Greenway has a significant number of Indians said the ad was particularly distasteful due to the approaching Diwali- the biggest festival of the Hindu community.
Ms Rowland says while her complaint was dismissed, the board of the ASB was divided and that a strong minority of the Board felt the advertisement does breach the code, by discriminating or vilifying on the basis of the Hindu religion in particular.
“While there is a relatively high bar for a finding of discrimination or vilification in our country, which values free speech, it is important to raise awareness of religious values in our multicultural society,” she said in a statement.
“I hope to see greater sensitivity and respect for the Hindu community and Lord Ganesha in advertising and marketing communications in future,” Ms Rowland added.
The Hindu Council of Australia called for the ad to be banned, saying it was a “crude and deplorable attempt by Meat and Livestock Australia to use images of Ganesha to promote lamb consumption”.
The organisation has called for nationwide protests against the ad.
"Our protest is against the insensitivity shown by MLA against the Hindu community even as both sides of politics have supported us in our call for revoking this ad," Balesh Dhankhar, spokesperson for the Hindu Council of Australia told SBS Punjabi.
Meat & Livestock Australia has defended the ad.
"The campaign features gods, prophets, and deities from across a wide range of religions alongside atheism, in a clearly fantastic nature, with the intent of being as inclusive as possible. To achieve this we undertook extensive research and consultation, MLA's Group Marketing Manager Andrew Howie told SBS Punjabi.
“Our intent is never to offend, but rather acknowledge that Lamb is a meat consumed by a wide variety of cultures and capture how the world could look if people left their differing views at the door and came to the table with open arms, and minds."
