Hindus Angered by Depiction of Deity in Meat Advert
An advertisement showing a collection of religious figures coming together for a lamb lunch has angered Indian-Australians because it features a vegetarian Hindu deity digging in.
Meat and Livestock Australia said in a press release on Sunday, September 3, that the theme for the ad was designed to show that “no matter your beliefs, background or persuasion, the one thing we can all come together and unite over, is Lamb.”
Aiming for humour, the ad featured Jesus, Aphrodite, Zeus, Moses, L Ron Hubbard, Ganesha, a Jedi and others sitting at a modern spring barbecue and ultimately toasting lamb, “the meat we can all eat.”
But vegetarianism is strongly linked to Hinduism, and members Australia’s Indian community are upset about the depiction of the elephant-headed Ganesha eating meat.
The Hindu Council of Australia called the ad a “crude and deplorable attempt by Meat and Livestock Australia to use images of Ganesha to promote lamb consumption”
Hindu cleric Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, said in a statement that “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. Moreover, linking Lord Ganesha with meat was very disrespectful and highly inappropriate.”
Zed called for the MLA to apologize and withdraw the ad immediately. It is love, not lamb meat, that brings people together, he said.
The ad does show sensitivity to Muslims by avoiding including Mohammed, who is said to not be able to make it because of day-care issues. Muslims believe it is sacrilegious to depict images of their prophet.
MLA group marketing manager Andrew Howie told SBS, the Sydney Morning Herald and ABC that the ad was not meant to offend. Credit: YouTube/We love our lamb via Storyful
