PepsiCo, Domino’s And Pilates Brand Breach Ad Standards

PepsiCo sweats over ‘misleading’ ad; Domino’s wrapped for skateboard safety; pilates brand slammed for ‘fat shaming’.

PepsiCo’s sports drink brand Gatorade No Sugar has pulled a Spotify ad that “misleads” consumers about the amount of electrolytes people lose when sweating.

An Ad Standards community panel ruled the Gatorade creative misled consumers by exaggerating the amount of sweat and electrolytes released when carrying out activities such as running on a treadmill or walking at night.

The complaint suggested that sweating makes you lose electrolytes in extreme cases, such as professional sport, and the ad was likely to “mislead potential consumers into drinking more of the product than necessary”, breaching the Food and Beverage Advertising Code.

PepsiCo, which disputed the findings, said its product was backed by scientific evidence, but agreed not to run the ad again in its current form.

Domino’s pulled a TV and online ad that depicts a woman skating on a longboard with a helmet eating pizza. The advertisement ends with the words “anything’s pizzable”.

Complaints suggested the creative encouraged children to skateboard without using safety equipment.

Although an Ad Standards community panel did not find the ad particularly target children, it did breach community standards on health and safety.

The fast food giant, which agreed to stop broadcasting the ad, argued that it does not breach health and safety standards because there are no laws that longboard riders need to wear helmets.

Butts and fat shaming

A pair of ads have fallen foul of sexualised content standards and have been asked to be pulled down or modified.

A TV advertisement promoting Slix Pilates Reformer equipment depicts women in swimwear with a voiceover asking: “Want to lose those love handles, and get a firm butt and long lean, sexy legs?” and “A Pilates body is beautifully sculpted; long and lean, with a firm butt, toned abs, sexy legs and defined arms and shoulders.”

In its decision, the Ad Standards panel noted the creative objectifies women and body shames and was too raunchy for daytime viewing.

Another ad that needs to be pulled for sexualised material is a Willys World poster that three women in underwear on a bed raise their buttocks overlooked by a vape smoking man with a halo.

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