Article by Jill Singer, Herald Sun Australia
July 09, 2009 12:00
As a consumer I find them misleading. As a woman I find them patronising. And as a fan of Sam Neill I find them disappointing.
In case you haven’t heard, the Meat and Livestock Association’s latest generic television advertisement for red meat is being launched this Sunday.
It features Sam Neill making friends with an ape called Dennis and explaining to him that you need to eat red meat for your brain to evolve.
Sam and Dennis then get down and dance the “butcher boogie” together.
MLA chief executive David Thomason predicts the ad will be a big hit with consumers, and help get their message across that humans are meant to eat red meat. How I hope he is proven wrong.
Much as I enjoy eating meat, I don’t like being fed bull, and the MLA’s advertising has been full of it for many years.
We’ve seen Sam Neill explain that craving red meat is instinctive behaviour, that red meat is nutritionally superior to chicken and that red meat is an essential part of human nutrition.
Sam Kekovich and Laurie Lawrence are other hairy-chested types who have been paid to feed us similar tripe.
There’s nothing new in the MLA’s propaganda; red meat has long been associated with masculinity. Hence the evolution of the catering tradition for crowds – beef for men and chicken for the ladies.
Even now, when most of us hunt down our food in supermarket aisles, the MLA wants to keep us trapped in the distant, gendered past.
By using traditionally blokey men to tell us they need meat, the MLA is sending a message to Australian women. It knows that women still carry the “basket power” – they do most of the shopping – and it’s our job to look after our menfolk.
The facts are that we face greater problems from excessive consumption of red meat than from eating too little of it.
The statement that red meat is an essential part of our diet is a lie. It is a more essential part of a maggot’s diet that a human’s.
There are countless studies proving foods such as fish are a superior form of protein than red meat.
The MLA sneakily drops into its ads that red meat three to four times a week is essential for good nutrition, but moderate consumption is not its real aim.
Increasing the sale of red meat is, full stop.
Just last month it launched a “new experience” for shared eating in the form of a steak called the “tomahawk” that weighs 1.5-2.5kg – the largest rib eye steak in Australia.
Also galling is that Sam Neill is allowing himself to be demeaned for financial gain.
Neill is a farmer as well as a fine actor. He grows pigs and chickens, truffles, saffron and pinot noir grapes. His own farming practices see him show a preference for organic and sustainable forms of production.
Sam Neill’s little farm is a million miles from how most of our red meat is produced.
Obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer are serious matters – as are animal and environmental welfare, and the need for truth in advertising.
If we want to do the right thing by our families, we should teach the MLA a harsh lesson and give red meat the flick for as long as they keep up their shoddy advertising.