By Lester Haines for The Register.
This story has been reproduced with permission.
The ASA used in both cases CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising
Standards Code rule 11.8.2 (a) (Alcoholic drinks) which states
booze ads "must not be likely to appeal strongly to people under
18, in particular by reflecting or being associated with youth
culture".
The first adjudication, against Beverage
Brands (UK) Ltd - the maker of WKD - examined two ads, the
first of which it described as follows:
The first ad featured two men wandering around a shop looking
for WKD. One pointed up to the shelf containing WKD and said There
it is; the shop keeper jumped out at them from behind some shelves
and said WKD huh? [He laughed hysterically] You naughty customers
[he waggled his finger at them]. The two men looked surprised and
started to leave the shop. The shop keeper waved his pricing gun at
them as if it were a real gun and it spewed out price stickers. The
shop keeper rushed out of the shop, pulled open his shop coat and
displayed his T-shirt, on which the words I love my WKD side were
printed, and said I'm loving my WKD side. The end caption stated
Have you got a WKD side? and the voice-over said He's just not got
it, have you?
The ASA concluded:
We considered that the humour in both ads was juvenile, that
both ads employed themes that are either associated with youth
culture or likely to appeal strongly to adolescents, that the
shopkeepers behaviour, when he jumped out from behind some shelves
and used his pricing gun as if it were a real gun, was make-believe
play-acting normally associated with children and that his wacky,
silly behaviour would appeal strongly to young peoples sense of
humour.
It accordingly ruled:
We concluded that both ads had strong appeal to under 18s,
breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 11.8.2
(a) (Alcoholic drinks) and should not be shown again.
The second adjudication against Diageo
Great Britain Ltd concerned "a range of Smirnoff Ice TV ads
that all featured Uri, a chilled-out Eastern European loyal to
Smirnoff Ice".
The ASA described the first in a series of seven thus:
The first ad showed Uri giving viewers a tour of his Arctic
wilderness home saying My name is Uri and welcome to my house. Let
me take you on a little tour. It's good ya [he warms his hands by a
flat-screen computer monitor that showed a burning log fire]. Oooh
[he watches a football match on a flat-screen TV hanging on the
wall] My stereo. And this is my pride and joy, my refrigerator [he
opens the door to the fridge and steps outside into the snow].
Nippy. Perfect temperature. This crazy boy here is my homeboy,
Gorb. And this is the best thing about my place, the peace and
quiet [he turns on his stereo to full volume]. Smirnoff Ice,
brrrrr!
Diageo countered the alleged breach of rule 11.8.2 at some
length, stressing it had "purposely chosen an entirely fictional
male lead to avoid the use of existing celebrities", that "the
heavy rock [soundtrack] from Quarashi, an Icelandic band not
distributed in the UK, would have no youth appeal in the UK", and
that it "had worked with a media-buying agency to ensure that a
minimum of 75 per cent of the audience for the campaign was of
legal purchase age or above".
Specifically regarding the ad outlined above, Diageo added that
"the inspiration for the ad was the generic home improvement
programme format on TV and they believed it was about a man having
pride in his home, something that was more relevant to adults".
The adjudication notes: "Diageo maintained that interest in
celebrities was not confined to young people. They argued that Uri
and Gorb were not celebrities and the house tour was not of
disproportionate appeal to under 18-year-olds. They said the ads
mocked celebrity culture and parodied the obsession with how
celebrities live by depicting a character who lives a distinctively
unglamorous lifestyle. They maintained this satirical humour was
clever, urbane and strikingly adult."
The ASA disagreed. Its assessment declared: "Despite Diageos
careful scheduling, more than 92,000 under 18-year-olds viewed the
ad. We considered that the rules were for the content of the ads,
not the scheduling of them, and that targeting the ads so that the
under 18s made up a low percentage of the audience did not mean the
code did not apply."
The agency ruled:
We concluded that the characters were likely to become cult
figures with strong appeal to under 18s and that all the ads that
featured Uri or Gorb breached the CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising
Standards Code rule 11.8.2 (a) (Alcoholic drinks) and should not be
shown again.
© The Register
2006
