‘Elon Musk’ in Australia Day lamb ad that roasts lockdown

The Australia Day lamb ad has been released and it features a surprising cameo from someone pretending to be the world’s richest man.

Meat & Livestock Australia’s newly released lamb advertisement has heavily criticised the country’s international border policies in an amusing three-minute video.

Posted on Monday morning (and you can watch it in the player above), the iconic annual commercial makes light of Australia being a hermit nation.

In last year’s ad, Meat & Livestock Australia ridiculed interstate politics and border closures.

This time around, premiers still got thoroughly roasted along with the lamb.

Titled ‘The Lost Country of the Pacific’, the annual Australia Day lamb ad campaign begins in an empty airport with bored workers barely managing to stay awake.

The lamb ad includes “Elon Musk” looking at Australia from space and of course Sam Kekovich.

From there, viewers are transported to the international studies department of a university where an excited student is trying to convince her professor that countries exist outside of Australia.

“I’ve explored all corners of the globe from Darwin to the southern tip of Tassie. Trust me, there’s nothing else out there,” the professor tells her.

Although some states now allow fully vaccinated residents to leave the country, strict rules remain in place for returning citizens and the nation is still not open to tourists.

The ad shows a futuristic world where Australians believe they are the only country on earth.

The ad continues with the student throwing a pink fluffy koala bear onto the table with its “made in China” label hard to ignore.

This causes them to remember there are countries other than Australia.

“Do you know what else happens to the country if we stay in isolation for too long?” the student asks.

“People learn the names of the state premiers?” her teacher guesses.

“But also the rest of the world forgets about us.”

The two decide they need to “send a message” to the world that Australia does, indeed, still exist.

“We’ve just got to get the rest of Australia on board somehow,” the professor says.

“Well at least 80 per cent of them,” the student quips in a nod to vaccine requirements.

The characters realise they aren’t the only country after finding a product manufactured in China.

Unsurprisingly, this plan involves lamb.

Enlisting the help of media personality and former Australian rules footballer Sam Kekovich — who always makes an appearance in the ads — the university duo create a big lamb fiesta which puts Australia back on the map.

The ad includes a cameo by someone pretending to be “Elon Musk” — who spots a giant lamb cutlet from space and quickly makes a beeline for Australia.

The ad makers can’t resist revisiting the moment last year when US President Joe Biden forgot Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s name and referred to him as “that fella Down Under”.

An American newsreader makes the same reference while describing the big lamb party.

In a clear dig at Western Australia, one Russian news bulletin pictures Australia but without the rogue state on the map.

The ad also ends with another criticism of WA. It shows the office of Premier Mark McGowan where he has hung up a map of Western Australia and the words “the entire world” appear next to it.

“Perfect,” Mr McGowan says as he admires his handiwork.

WA was the last state to set a reopening date for both its interstate and international borders. The state has earmarked February 5 as when rules will start to ease.

Western Australia got a serving in the ad.

Mark McGowan was heavily criticised.

During the big lamb fiesta, the ad’s creator’s can’t help themselves with some interstate banter.

A group of three people can be seen standing under an umbrella while wearing vibrant dressing gowns.

“Good to see the Victorians finally out of the house,” notes one person.

A group of tourist arrive, causing an older couple to exclaim: “Backpackers! Thank God we don’t have to pick our own food anymore.”

Originally published as ‘Elon Musk’ in Australia Day lamb ad that roasts lockdown