COVID-19 has tightened travel restrictions and created a sense of separation between Australian states. Following a strange and difficult year, Meat & Livestock Australia's annual ad looked to unite the nation with a splash of absurdist humour. We explore the insights behind the MLA’s playful take on 2020’s chaos.
Set in the year 2031, MLA’s ‘Make Lamb Not Walls’ campaign imagines a future where Australians are separated by a great wall across state lines. The ad shows how the scent of a lamb chop wafting through a crack in the wall is enough to break the tension and cause a crowd to destroy the wall and unite over a giant BBQ. As the different states come together, Sydneysiders are teased for their ‘suave’ getup, while a news reporter remarks “even the Tasmanians have arrived.” Media personality Sam Kekovich is depicted bursting through the wall in an army tank stating “I love the smell of lamb in the morning,” and a man who resembles Prime Minister Scott Morrison is shown stepping off a plane from Hawaii asking “What have I missed?”
After a year that began with battling wildfires and ended with states divided by a virus, 2020 was one for Australians to remember - and not for the right reasons. As the impact of the pandemic endures and people’s mental health continues to suffer, many Aussies are looking for brands to boost morale rather than stick to somber messaging. Indeed, almost seven in ten Australians said they wanted positivity from brands over Christmas.
Humour can be an important psychological means of building resilience in difficult times; consumers' positive reception of Oreo’s doomsday mockumentary and IKEA’s eco ad illustrate the growing desire for upbeat, offbeat content that enables people to process some of the emotions they’re feeling.
Matilda Ruck is a behavioural analyst at Canvas8. She has a degree in politics and philosophy as well as a foundation in psychotherapy. She's passionate about exploring the interplay between creativity, psychology and culture. Outside of work, you can find her writing short stories, tending to her ginger cat Thomas O’Malley, or oscillating between yoga and karaoke practice.
