The most complained-about telly advertisement so far this year have been revealed, and it’s no surprise the Advertising Standards Bureau has been faced with an avalanche of objections to Ultra Tune’s recent efforts.
The brand’s Unexpected Situation ‘muffler’ ad, featuring two women whose convertible Mini bursts into flame, has been singled out 357 times on the grounds of being sexually discriminatory, degrading, and overtly sexual.
While the ad has obviously fielded a fair whack of opposition from the viewing public, the ASB has nevertheless upheld Ultra Tune’s right to broadcast the ad. The same goes for two of their other Unexpected Situation ads, which received 65 and 35 complaints, respectively.
SportsBet’s Ben Johnson campaign was nixed, though. The second-most complained about ad received 202 messages of opposition due to its apparent glorification of shady substances.
The clip, which featured the former Olympian and drug cheat plugging SportsBet’s new app under the saying “it puts the ‘roid’ in ‘Android’”, was eventually found to violate health and safety guidelines.
Ads from iSelect, Pacific Brands Holdings, and Frucor Beverages Australia were also called out for being allegedly discriminatory of vilifying. Spots from AAMI and BCF were singled out for allegedly offensive language. All of those complaints were dismissed by the ASB.
Curiously, the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Service’s PSA about violence against paramedics was also called out by viewers for being too violent. 24 people voiced their concerns for the ad, which we’d argue would lose its power without its dramatised push-and-shove. It was allowed to remain as-is.
Catch the full list HERE.
Source: Mumbrella.
Photo: Ultra Tune / YouTube.
