Lambassador Sam Kekovich’s ‘”bon appetit” landed him in ‘un-Australian’ exile in MLA’s latest lamb ad.
TWO-weeks-ago former AFL player and ‘lambassador’, Sam Kekovich, expanded his repertoire of protein promotion delivering a call to arms for Australians to get off the couch and cook up some beef. But the video is no longer appearing on the page it was posted on, leaving us to ask, ‘what happened to Sam?’
Mr Kekovich has been encouraging people to eat lamb on Australia Day since 2005 – contracted by the red meat industry’s peak marketing body, Meat & Livestock Australia.
Over the years he has become known as MLA’s ‘lambassador’ and his yearly messages are equal parts lamb advertisement, rant-based humour and social commentary. MLA said its summer lamb ad this year amassed 5.7m views across all social channels.
These days, Mr Kekovich and the lamb chop are synonymous.
But it turns out he doesn’t mind a bit of beef on the bone as well – fronting the cameras for Australia’s second largest lotfeeder and beef brand owner Mort & Co with a tomahawk steak about the size of his face.
In the advertisement, he says “couch potatos” are becoming endemic in Australian society – talking about people working from home in pyjamas or “active wear that has never seen activity”, getting their food delivered by students on scooters and listening to audiobooks rather than reading.
“You know who you are,” Mr Kekovich says in his distinctive, menacing tone.
He says the city-based “couch potatos” should be honouring the hard-working people on the land who put Aussie beef on the table by “getting up off their rump”, firing up the barbecue and cooking some beef.
But the ad is no longer appearing on Mort & Co’s Facebook page. A spokesperson from the company said it was taken down after discussions with Mr Kekovich.
The spokesperson said Mr Kekovich was reminded that he represents lamb and not beef, and after hundreds of Facebook shares in a weekend both parties decided it was best to take the video off its page.
MLA was contacted for comment but did not want to share details of the contract it has with Mr Kekovich or its thoughts on the ad.
However, it seems he will remain the ‘lambassador’ and not become the ‘beefbassador’.
- If you have any suggestions on who should be the ‘beefbassador’, leave them in the comment section below.
I can’t see anything unaustralian about the ad Its great it shows both sides can talk to a unified end
Kel Night….of Kath n Kim fame . At least he is a butcher. If he is busy the Russell Coight
I think Stephen wins this one. Editor
Surely the Honey Badger is the Babbling Bull _ Artist for Beef????
Shane Webcke, big profile in NRL states, from a farm, I believe still owns farms at Warwick, comfortable in front of a camera.
Your MLA levies hard at work here!
Probably doesn’t matter any more. The poor old MLA couldn’t even bring itself to say “Australia Day” this year. If you have no backbone (or intestinal fortitude) what right do you have to ask producers to pay for your Kingdom of Woke.
Paul hogen
Now that a chop or stake
No more shrimps
Beef
Jack Thompson
Sunday roast to far away
How about an articulate ex-NRL player who is a bit younger than Lambassador Sam – Mark Geyer has a good media profile.
Maybe you should ask Paul Hogan
Kerry Lonergan
Chris Hemsworth. NT raised, otherwise known as Thor, the god of thunder and farming. Not as good looking as Sam, but otherwise a natural fit
I vote for Ash Barty