ITC restricts Carling ad to evening slots
Carling has been forced by the Independent Television Commission to restrict the showing of one of its ads – featuring a woman in her underwear pouring a trail of beer over the floor and herself, as her boyfriend licks it up – until after the 9pm watershed.
The ITC received 69 complaints, some saying that the Leith Agency-created ad was offensive due to its use of sexual imagery and others that its sexual theme was inappropriate while children could be watching.
The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Committee had approved the ad, with the normal alcohol restrictions stipulating that it should not be shown in or around religious programmes or those likely to appeal to children.
Although the ITC accepted that the volume of complaints was partly due to heavy scheduling of the ad around the World Cup, it judged that the man in the ad did mimic oral sex and that the content could cause concern in relation to younger viewers.
In a separate ruling, the ITC held that three spread-betting ads for City Index, broadcast on CNBC, broke rules prohibiting the advertising of products or services concerned with betting and gaming.
The controversy over Pot Noodle ads rumbles on. Despite a rescheduling of its Bombay Bad Boy ad until after 9pm, and the removal of the word “slag”, the ITC still received 34 complaints claiming that the ad is offensive. These have been rejected.
