Last night’s episode of ABC television’s Advertising/Marketing programme, The Gruen Transfer, scrutinised several Meat & Livestock Australia advertisements produced over more than a decade. These television advertisements are hugely expensive to produce and incredibly expensive to run. Many meat producers complain about their high industry levies, so they should be thrilled to see this intelligent discussion on national television, followed by a tick of approval from the Gruen Panel. These are advertising industry experts who are clearly very knowledgeable and experienced, unusually objective, and very forthright when voicing their opinions, and backing them up, whether they be positive or negative views.
The MLA advertisements discussed included one of Sam Kekovitch’s classic Australia Day advertisements (I love the office desk out on the flat, with the windmill behind – and the idea of a week-long Australia Day holiday), the 1990 ad featuring Naomi Watts, name-dropping Tom Cruise (the famous lamb roast reason for the rejected dinner date), the oldest meat advertisement studied, ‘7 out of 10 women report feeling run down…lack of iron may be the cause…red meat is high in iron’, which is what I believe is probably by far the most effective advertisement (you can’t beat providing an easy solution for a common problem) – plus the ‘Lamb – a fragrance for women’ ad, which I admit is not really my cup of tea (but hey, if it works, with people who think differently to me, who am I to criticise).
We’re facing an unprecedented deluge of what can only be described as propaganda (described thus because it’s forceful, but not backed up by logical facts) from the anti-meat eating brigade. These people range from extremists who believe animals shouldn’t be used for any kind of human purposes (including rescue and guide dogs for the blind) , to those who don’t like the idea of animals being killed and eaten (however humanely), to those who believe vegetarians are superior to meat eaters and that being vegetarian is helping the environment. All appear more than happy to use whatever arguments (however unfounded) they think will achieve their aims. And few appear to respect the right of others to eat meat, although they expect respect for their lifestyle choice in return.
The Gruen also talked about a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) advertisement, ‘Vegetarians have better sex’ (and do strange things with pumpkins and asparagus, apparently). This is part of what The Gruen had to say:
“So what does the Gruen crew think of the ad? Well, call us old-fashioned, but we still like a little foreplay in our advertising. The PETA ad tries to beat us over the head with overt sexiness, and feels like it’s trying to be controversial for the sheer sake of it. PETA has a rich history of attention-seeking campaigns – time and again it has used scantily clad actresses, models and porn-stars to get the point across. Now we understand they’re trying to get their messages noticed amid the clutter, but does treating women like pieces of meat in their ads actually make us want to eat less of it? Unlikely.
We’re a little perplexed by their claims too. Vegetarians have better sex? Says who? Famous meat-dodgers include Pamela Anderson and her ex-husband Tommy Lee. Let’s just say we’ve seen the video and remain unconvinced.” The Gruen Transfer, ABC Television, 13 May 2009
So when is the MLA going to put out an advertisement showing an incredibly beautiful, fit and healthy, young professional woman (with all her clothes on), tucking into a serve of good quality meat, accompanied by a balanced proportion of the other 4 food groups? A picture of ‘everything in moderation’ – respecting the balance of nature and realities of the web of life. Not dull, but smart, sexy, successful and fashionable. And environmentally responsible. And with (of course) a good looking (fit, strong & healthy – not an anaemic weed) bloke.
This image is exactly what needs to be promoted by meat producer organisations in the future. As was mentioned on The Gruen Transfer – it is women who are usually the ones still in charge of grocery shopping, and in charge of what their children eat. If these women don’t eat meat, they won’t buy it for their partner or for their children. Right now there are women who believe eating meat will make them fat and it is unhealthy, others who believe meat eating is socially unacceptable or at least unfashionable, and there are increasing numbers who mistakenly believe vegetarianism is better for the environment. Sanitarium even argues (including on their sponsored ‘National Vegetarian Week) that a vegetarian diet is cheaper (which going on their figures, is actually more expensive than a diet that includes meat – certainly using our own household budget figures – and we eat good meat. See an earlier blog post on this subject.) I think rather than only promoting the ‘real men are carnivores’ angle, it’s time for a ‘real women eat meat’ ad. Maybe even trot out the image of the stereotypical (but quite real) vegetarian who looks thin and pale, eats rubbish food like chips with gravy, washed down by diet coke, who is exhausted halfway through the day, and perpetually hungry. Who then eats jelly beans to feel better, takes medicine containing animal products, and wears leather shoes. I’ve met them – there’s thousands of them. If the meat industry wanted to play as dirty as the vegetarian industry, we’d be trotting out ads showing women who are having trouble falling pregnant because they’re anaemic, and older people being diagnosed with alzheimer’s (numerous worldwide studies, over a number of years, have shown iron deficiency is implicated in the onset and increased progression of alzheimer’s disease, and reduced cognitive ability).
Unfortunately anti-meat eaters like to quote studies which purport to show that vegetarians are healthier than all meat eaters. This comparison has a major flaw, because they are not comparing the segment of the meat-eating population who have similar levels of education, income etc to the segment of the population who tend to become vegetarians. Like revolutionary political views, vegetarianism tends to be a middle-class habit – i.e. people who are reasonably well educated, who exercise regularly and look after their health more, rather than people on low incomes and with little education (who tend to rate the worst in society, when it comes to health and longevity). Whether or not people eat meat is completely irrelevant, when it comes to assessing health levels. It is a balanced diet, regular exercise, higher incomes and lower stress levels – plus a good healthy start early in life (and genetics) – that determines levels of health, not whether or not meat is eaten.
Regarding The Gruen Transfer – next week is the last episode in this series. It’s a unique, intelligent, excellent quality programme, in every respect – a classic example of what Australian ABC television does best. The regular and guest industry experts on the panel have been, without exception, knowledgeable, objective, witty and good thinkers. Will Anderson is a first class compere – diplomatic but witty, and not afraid to ask the difficult questions when required. Fingers crossed that the ABC commission a third series.