An ad for the new Fiat Chrysler 500X, in which a man attempts to pop a little blue pill ahead of some sexy times with his lady friend, has had the complaints filed against it dismissed.
The campaign features an old man wandering into his bedroom to find his wife waiting for him. He rushes back to the bathroom to take his little blue pill, only to miss his mouth in his haste.
The blue pill plummets out the window, hits the roof, goes down the drain pipe, bouncing off another roof, a wall, and a lamp before finally landing in the open petrol tank of a man’s Fiat 500 at the petrol station.
You can watch the cheeky spot here:
https://youtu.be/YAcLViTHDOo
Complaints of the ad included, “I was firstly offended that the advertisement was aired during the day whilst having very adult content on a channel my young children and I often watch” and “it was very suggestive, sexually and wrong”.
The advertisers responded by explaining, “The advertisement of the new Fiat 500X was positioned at our core target of women, mid-30s with a strong interest in style and design – when it comes to their car, they want something that ticks all the boxes from a practicality perspective but also with distinctive looks and personality, so our marketing needs to do the same.”
The Advertising Standards Board noted the complainants’ concerns that the advertisement depicts a couple about to engage in sexual activity and then a car enlarging after coming in contact with a Viagra-like pill is sexualised content that is not appropriate for children.
But it also noted that the nudity is “mild” and while the expansion of the car is “intended to represent the sexual performance effects of Viagra”, believed children would not understand the references to sexual performance enhancers, deeming the complaints excessive.
The Board considered that, “Whilst adults would understand the double entendre employed in this advertisement, in the Board’s view most adults would not find this double entendre to be sexually explicit or inappropriate in the context of a light-hearted and cheeky scenario”.
