Vegans brand Australia Day advert ‘discriminatory’

Vegans have branded an Australia Day advert that promotes eating lamb as ‘discriminatory’.

In the action movie-style commercial, a SWAT team saves ‘stranded Aussies’ who are abroad and would otherwise miss a barbeque on Australia day.

In the scene that caused complaints, one SWAT team member can be seen attempting to rescue someone living in New York. After crashing into the man’s apartment, the soldier says "C'mon mate, in a few hours you'll be eating lamb on the beach", to which the the bearded man responds: "But I'm a vegan now...".

Moments later the soldier is seen blasting a flamethrower over a bowl of kale within the vegan’s apartment.

The Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) reported that they had received around 250 complaints, which were mostly made by vegans.

A number of famous Australian faces can be seen in the video including TV presenter Lee Lin Chin, Sam Kekovich and national Rugby captain Stephen Moore and the cricketer Mitchell Johnson.

There had also been complaints of violence and discrimination against Indigenous Australians, which the ASB said they were reviewing.

The fictional rescue project is named ‘Operation Boomerang’, an indigenous term.

Although the day is one of celebration for many Australians, the indigenous population sees it as a day of mourning, as it remembers when Europeans first arrived in the country.

In response to the complaints, Meat & Livestock Australia called the ad "tongue in cheek".

"Consumers are free to make up their own minds in relation to lifestyle choices, including what they eat. We appreciate that not all Australians eat lamb," group marketing manager for MLA Andrew Howie said in a statement.

"MLA is also aware of some complaints about the use of the word "boomerang" in the advertisement. It is not our intention to cause any offense through the use of this term which is used to symbolise Australians returning home for Australia Day."