A COMPLAINT that a McDonald's McCafe TV commercial contained racist references has been dismissed by Australia’s advertising watchdog.
Aboriginal activist Stephen Hagan lodged an official complaint with the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) over what he said was a culturally offensive reference to indigenous people.
Screened nationally since May but removed from air by McDonald’s after the complaint was lodged, the ad played on the use of commonly-used descriptive terms for coffee in Australia including long black and short black.
The execution in question featured images of a tall African American basketball player while a voiceover refers to a short black coffee. It is part of a campaign containing a number of ads created by McDonald’s ad agency DDB.
The ASB said it had deemed the ad suitable for showing and dismissed the complaint by Hagan, who previously took a fight against the public use of the word nigger to Australia's High Court and the United Nations,
The ad is part of a campaign containing a number of executions created by McDonald’s ad agency DDB.
A McDonald’s spokesperson said the ad would be returned to air as part of the rotation of ads in the campaign.
