The Australian Labor Party has come under fire over an 'Australian first” television advertisement for a lack of diversity.
The spot, which ran in rural regions of Queensland last night on Nine, depicts a number of tradesmen and professionals as Caucasian, without any other cultures represented.
The campaign promises a Labor government would “build Australian first, buy Australian first and employ Australian first”.
Lou Petrolo, managing partner at cultural marketing agency Etcom, tells AdNews the ad failed "on many levels".
To begin with, he says it shows a lack of understanding of what makes Australia what it is today.
"There's a lack of respect for their core Labor-voting audience, which has previously and will always be highly diverse," Petrolo says.
"It's also an ineffective attempt to appeal to a broader audience that traditionally does not support Labor, which is also not 'white' and highly diverse."
Petrolo believes there has been a "major" process fail in that either the ad wasn't researched at all or the focus groups/panels "were also not a representative of the cultural mix of Australia".
Yesterday, Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese labelled the ad “a shocker” and not an ad he would want his party to promote.
"I'm a member of the ALP National Executive. I assure you I had not seen it," he said.
Shorten told the media the lack of diversity was “a bad oversight”.
"I had a look in the final product and I think we need more diversity and I will speak to the Labor Party about that,” he added.
Some people have pointed out the lack of diversity in the ALP’s video about local jobs. Fair cop. A bad oversight that won’t happen again.
— Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) May 8, 2017
On Twitter, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young suggested the ad was a case of white washing.
As subtle as a sledge hammer.
— 💚🌏 Sarah Hanson-Young (@sarahinthesen8) May 7, 2017
Honestly, what are Labor thinking? This is awful, just awful. pic.twitter.com/MJgZvamdBO
Other Australian media personalities from different cultural backgrounds took exception to the spot.
https://twitter.com/MarcFennell/status/861394700422397952AdNews' favourite was celebrity chef Adam Liaw's efforts.
Guys, you can stop freaking out about this ad now because Bill Shorten's office has confirmed all these people have lots of ethnic friends. pic.twitter.com/ObM4eQSZ9J
— Adam Liaw (@adamliaw) May 8, 2017
And this...
Don't remove it. Just photoshop Miranda Tapsell and Anh Do in at the back somewhere. https://t.co/fHgJvioTCH
— Adam Liaw (@adamliaw) May 8, 2017
AdNews recently covered the lack of diversity blighting Australian media and marketing in Cultural whitewash, while Fennel is one of the founders of Media Diversity Australia, which aims to promote diversity across the media.
MultiConnexions CEO Sheba Nandkeolyar recently called on marketers to do more to promote multicultural marketing and SBS is running a competition to promote diversity in TV advertising.
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