Saatchi & Saatchis latest campaign for Tooheys New has copped the ire of an English lobby group campaigning to have the ad, which uses the term Pom, banned for “racial vilification”.
With the Barmy Army in town for the Ashes series, the TVC for Tooheys Supercold beer takes a swipe at the Mother Country’s penchant for warm beer, with the ad promoting Supercold as “cold enough to scare a Pom”.
Print executions of the ad show a chilled schooner of Supercold below copy such as “It’s a Pom’s worst nightmare”, “The Poms are going to choke”, and “Geezer Freezer”.
However, the British People Against Racial Discrimination (BPARD), are not amused and have lodge an official complaint with the Advertising Standards Board citing racial discrimination.
BPARD spokesperson David Thomason said he was offended by the continued use in the media of the word Pom, which he described as a racist and derogatory term.
“It goes beyond fun. I’ve been in Australia for 36 years but it’s never been as bad as it is today. I’ve even seen words used in newspaper reports such as mongrel Poms and Pommy wankers,” Thomason told B&T.
“Everybody’s got to understand – our point is that the media don’t use offensive racial nicknames for other ethnic groups but they single us [the English] out so that’s racial discrimination.”
Mark Jeanes, acting CEO of the ASB, said a complaint by BPARD was made in the last couple of weeks and will be reviewed at next month’s Board meeting.
Thomason said BPARD had also complained to the ASB about a Sanitarium Weetbix Ashes ad that uses the term Pom.
The group has even sent evidence of the media’s continued use of Pom as a derogatory term to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the Ethnic Communities Council in Western Australia, where the group is headquartered, and to Prime Minster John Howard.
Tooheys marketing director Paul Foster said while he respected BPARD’s right to its opinion, he did not believe it was one held by the wider community.
“I’m a Pom and I’m not offended. All my mates who are Poms are not offended - we can whinge with the best of them,” Foster told B&T.
“We can respect certain groups of people have certain views and they’re entitled to them but most people in the community don’t see it as an offensive word. It’s seen as a term of endearment between two great rival sporting nations”.
Foster also said he was confident the ASB would not pull the ad off air.
“Given the ASB is made up of Aussies, we’re comfortable we won’t have any issues with this,” Foster said.
Saatchi & Saatchi’s Tooheys Supercold campaign for Lion Nathan has been scheduled to run for the next four months.
