Saatchi & Saatchi’s United Nations ad, ‘Bad Mouth’, challenges the racist attitudes behind vilification in Australia. An Aboriginal man, a Muslim man, an Asian woman, a Lebanese man, a Jewish man, and an effeminate man each vilify people of their own sort. The finishing text: “It doesn’t make sense coming out of their mouths. Does it make sense coming out of yours?”
Australian popular culture is only now coming to terms with the changes in immigration implemented in the 1960s through to 1980s. Until the middle of the twentieth century the federal government pursued a ‘White Australia’ policy, which in effect excluded people who could not easily blend into a culture dominated by white British values and appearance.
Click on the image below to play the video.
Credits
The Badmouth campaign was developed at Saatchi & Saatchi Australia, Sydney, by creative director David Nobay.
Filming was shot by Tim Gibbs via 8 Commercials, Sydney.
Editor was Stewart Reeves at Guillotine, Sdyney.
UN Day is celebrated on 24 October each year, the day that the United Nations came into existence in 1945, sixty years ago.