Complaints of racism against 'white males' in ad rejected

The Advertising Standards Board of Australia has officially refuted complaints that an advertisement celebrating diversity was discriminatory towards "white males."

Several complaints were made to the ad watchdog, calling the Meat and Livestock Association (MLA) commercial "You Never Lamb Alone" inspired vilification towards white men.

The ad's cheeky dialogue was the cause of most complaints, with actor Luke Jacobz saying "I'm here to address concerns that too many perky white males are contributing to a lack of diversity on our screens."

In response, one formal complaint stated "He [Jacobz] was racist in his comments about to [sic] many white people on TV and it was racist and offended me."

MLA offered their own commentary, saying "The tongue-in-cheek comment by no means treats white males unfavourably or seeks to ridicule such members of society. We submit that the reasonable viewer would not perceive this statement or the Advertisements as a whole to be racist or sexist. The advertisements promote acceptance and tolerance -- not bigotry or the incitement of hatred towards white Australian males."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The industry watchdog says they "noted that there is discourse in the media about the predominance of white men on Australian television and considered that while this advertisement acknowledges and plays on this discourse in the Board’s view, it does so in a manner which draws attention to the issue in a humorous manner but does not discriminate against or vilify the demographic it is talking about."

Well, duh. Now let's all go back to enjoying the video. Even "perky white young males."