ASA rules on Mazda ad – no titillation
An ad for Mazda featuring lingerie-clad mannequins showing signs of sexual arousal has been cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after it provoked over 400 complaints.
Created by JWT, the ad showed a dummy hitch up its negligée as it rode in the back of the car and at the end of the journey the camera focused on its erect nipples.
Viewers complained the ad was offensive, demeaned women and was shown on television and in cinemas when children might be watching.
But the ASA ruled that the ads were not excessively explicit and that the arousal was humorous and absurd rather than sexist. It also said that restrictions on when the ad was shown on TV and in cinemas were sufficient.
The ASA has rejected complaints that an ad for Sony Ericsson camera-phones, created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, was misleading. Fours viewers complained that pictures taken in the ad, including one of a bird flying off with a bear in its talons, could not have been taken because of the time it takes the camera to auto-focus. One viewer said the photos were faked.
The ASA ruled that the quality of the images, which were clearly fantasy, was representative of the camera’s abilities and that the camera had the shutter speeds necessary for taking the pictures.
