Powerful New Ads Use Lifeguards Ignoring Drownings As Analogy For Australia’s Attitudes Towards Refugees

The past year has been a big one for the asylum seeker debate. Between the Syrian refugee crisis –tragically highlighted by the highly-shared images of drowned toddler Aylan Kurdi — and the allegations of gross mistreatment of asylum seekers back in Australia (and the UN’s consistent condemnation of it), there has been plenty of conversation starters. Some of those conversations have led to change (read: Canada), and some have not (read: Peter Dutton).

But despite the countless rallies and protests across the country, damning media reports, online petitions and symbolic gestures by the community, the Australian public continues to be overwhelming divided on the issue — as is reflected by the government’s harsh unwavering refugee policies of tow-backs and offshore processing.

Refugee advocacy groups know there’s never been a more relevant and crucial time for powerful refugee awareness campaigns. So, following on from last month’s ‘I Came By Boat’ video (and potentially poster) campaign, which celebrates real-life examples of Australians who arrived by boat, OurAustralia (led by Balmain for Refugees) have released new ads aimed at changing minds and attitudes.

The two videos, labelled “It’s un-Australian not to help”, feature lifeguards “Bruce” and “Kev” looking out over a beach. In one clip, Kev says, “It looks like that blokes in trouble out there,” to which Bruce replies, “But how do we know he’s actually drowning?” They then go back and forth attempting to justify why they shouldn’t help the person out. It’s a very Australian, but very poignant analogy.

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Surf Life Saving Australia isn’t happy, though. Almost immediately, the organisation distanced itself from the campaign, saying the ads’ depiction of the lifeguards, who are wearing the iconic red and yellow colours, infringes its intellectual property and misleads viewers.

“The clip is being reviewed by SLSA’s lawyers,” said a SLSA spokesperson.

“Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) has been made aware of a YouTube clip.  This clip is misrepresentative of surf lifesavers and lifeguards.

“The clip is not endorsed nor supported in any way by SLSA and as noted the clip is not representative of the attitudes or behaviours of a surf lifesaver or lifeguard. In addition to potentially harming SLSA’s reputation it has more than likely infringed SLSA’s Intellectual Property rights.”

Damian Damjanovski of Common Ventures, the agency which made the ads, told Mumbrella they had made sure the videos wouldn’t infringe any intellectual property.

“We would genuinely hope that SLSA would get behind this message,” Damjanovski said.

“I understand they may not be particularly happy, but it plays on the fact that no one for a moment would believe that surf life savers would ignore a drowning person.”