'Aren't we all boat people?': New Australian Lamb ad deemed most controversial yet

The latest Australian Lamb ad campaign has been hit with a wave of controversy just hours after its release for failing to mention Australia Day.

Just two weeks out from the national holiday, the ad surrounds a celebratory barbecue with patrons from different backgrounds and cultures.

Set on a beach, three Indigenous people prepare to put the lamb on the barbecue when a boat carrying European settlers arrives.

With a nod to our history, more ships arrive bringing the Dutch, the French, the Germans, the First Fleet, the Chinese, the Greeks, the Serbians, the Italians and the New Zealanders to the party.

Olympian Cathy Freeman appears in the ad and asks the cook: “What’s the occasion?” to which he replies: “Do we need one?”

The last boat to arrive resembles a fishing trawler filled with people.

“Look it’s the boat people!” one reveller cries out.

“Hang on. Aren’t we all boat people?” former Masterchef contestant Poh Ling Yeow asks.

While the ad is intended to portray lamb as the most multicultural meat, many viewers were offended at the absence of the words "Australia Day" and the implication that all Australians are boat people.

Facebook users labelled the ad "disrespectful".

“How can an Australia Day ad, not even mention the words "Australia Day!” that it self is disrespectful to our national holiday,” one woman wrote.

“Why not mention Australia day or is being Australian offensive to some people?” a man asked.

“No we are NOT all boat people. I was born here so by no definition of the word am I a 'boat person'. If a boat person has a child who is born here then the child is not one either. What an offensive garbage ad,” another man wrote.

While the ad did gain applause from a wide audience, another user pointed out that the only people who should really be offended are Tasmanians, who were left off the map at the end of the commercial.