At its January meeting, the Board considered reviewed the radio ad for the Tooheys brand, in which a group of British men sing the tune of “Land of Hope and Glory” using various synonyms of the word “whinge” including “whine”, “moan”, “slag” and “complain”
The ad ends with the voice-over saying: “Introducing Tooheys New Super Cold, served so cold it’s a Pom’s worst nightmare.”
The advertisement has been taken off the air.
At its previous meeting in December the Board had dismissed complaints about the use of ‘Pom’ in other advertisements, determining that the word in isolation was generally acceptable and used as a term of affection.
“This time the Board felt that the negative words used in the radio ad detracted from the otherwise playful nature of ‘Pom’, leaving it with a derogatory and almost hostile meaning,” said Advertising Standards Bureau acting chief executive officer, Mark Jeanes.
The radio ad was part of the same Tooheys New Super Cold campaign but the Board noted that its content did not carry the context of the Ashes cricket series, nor the traditional sporting rivalry between Australia and England.
“The Board considered the advertisement negatively stereotyped and demeaned English people and found that it breached Section 2.1 of the Advertiser Code of Ethics dealing with vilification based on nationality,” Jeanes said.
The Board also considered the annual Meat and Livestock Australia Day ad presented by personality Sam Kekovich, exhorting people to eat lamb on our national day.
“The ad received a lot less complaints than last year’s version,” Jeanes said
“Some complainants believed the ad stereotyped and vilified minority groups, including vegetarians, but the Board decided that the ad was in good humour and did not intend to genuinely vilify or hurt any particular section of the community.”
The Board also upheld complaints about a television advertisement for Shell V-Power petrol which showed a man base jumping from a cliff and again from the top of a tall building.
