Sex and Nudity Are OK Within Limits, But Better Not Mess With Religion

Philip Stone May 10, 2005

If an advertiser messes with God there is more chance that the ad will get banned, according to the 2004 annual report of the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). But the Brits do see things a bit more liberally than their continental cousins.

In Italy and France, a parody of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper painting, sponsored by a French fashion house, was banned because it caused offense to Roman Catholics. But another similar parody of the Last Supper painting, used by a British television station in posters to promote a drama show, was found acceptable in spite of 264 complaints because the ASA found the advert parodied Da Vinci rather than the religious occasion.

But there are limits even for the ASA. It banned a TV ad, objected to by 800 people, which showed a woman named Mary giving a real birth during a nativity play at a church. She was selling pies. Don’t ask.

A poster for a birth control pill that carried the headline “Immaculate Contraception? If Only” also got the heave-ho.

But while it is the sexy and religious ads that get the most attention, ASA often has to rap the knuckles of some of the world’s leading companies that make claims for their products that are shown just not to be true.

Only this week, for instance, ASA banned an ad for Pantene Pro-V Shampoo and Conditioner, manufactured by Proctor & Gamble, for claiming it can make hair “up to 10 times stronger.”

And Estee Lauder got nailed for claiming its Body Performance Anti-Cellulite Visible Contouring Serum destroyed cellulite or at least reduced its appearance. Not so, said the ASA, acting on a complaint from a rival cosmetic company. Estee Lauder says it will continue to sell the product as “anti-cellulite” but it promised not to repeat the claims.

And Londoners had a sweet victory this week against Transport for London that runs the bus service. Londoners loved their double-decker red busses with the open rear entry and exit allowing one to hop on or off at traffic lights (never mind the safety concerns). But they have all but disappeared, replaced by double decker buses with closed doors as well as exta long single deck buses with closed doors and Londoners just have not taken to them.

So when route 73 was switched to a single decker long bus that bends as it turns corners, and the bus authorities had the audacity to issue posters and leaflets saying that getting on these buses was faster than the old double decker bus the complaints swarmed into the ASA.

And ASA ruled the literature was misleading and should be withdrawn because a report from the transport authorities showed that if more than 10 passengers were boarding at one time the waiting time at a bus stop was longer than for the old bus.  So there!

And playing games with bad language also got frowned upon. In the UK Nov.5 is commemorated as Guy Fawkes Day -- the anniversary of when Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament, and King James 1 in 1605. So budget airline Ryanair decided to advertise “Fawking great offers”, but people complained it was really a play on another word which we wouldn’t use in such a family oriented web site as ours, and ASA agreed, banning the ad.

But the ad ban that now draws renewed attention is a poster for Trojan Condoms showing a close-up of a woman looking as though she is having an orgasm. What’s interesting about this now is that in the US, Trojan and Durex are going head-to-head in an effort to win the 18-24 year-old demographic.

Trojan, which has advertised previously on US late night television, now says it wants to advertise during prime time after 9 p.m, while Durex, with a far more risqué campaign, has chosen to go to the Internet airwaves.

Right now the Congress is still debating new laws to increase indecency fines on television stations and networks by some 10-fold, egged on by such lobby groups as the American Family Association, and for Trojan to have any chance of getting its ads on at 9 p.m..it means the campaign is going to have to be pretty tame.

To avoid any of those FCC problems, Durex has launched a product placement campaign via podcasts that use the Internet to distribute audio files for the new audio rage, iPods. Already Durex has an ongoing campaign on an iPod program that features unscripted X-rated discussions between a husband and wife.

On the first podcast last month husband, wife, and dog, put the Durex to the taste test. Doubtful that Trojan will match that in its TV ads!

No doubt Trojan and the networks will run into lobby groups that will argue against the appropriateness of advertising such personal products on prime-time television no matter how tasteful the ads. Then there is the religious right that believes abstinence is the way forward and how will they react to condoms being advertised in the middle of their favorite television programs?

Of course they could always boycott the product, but then they should be doing that already. They do have the power, however, to threaten the network showing the ads with boycotts and it will be interesting to see if the networks are ready yet to take on that fight.

Keep listening and stay tuned!