Richmond Ham re-edit fails to stop probe

Kerry Foods attempts to counter complaints about the level of nudity on show in its ‘naked farmer’ ad with a re-edited version without any bum shots has failed to prevent a formal investigation by the advertising watchdog.

Richmond Ham

The investigation will not only look into complaints about the use of inappropriate nudity throughout the spot, but will also look at whether the claim that the ham is a 100% natural product is misleading.

It comes days after Kerry Foods unveiled a re-edited version of the ad that removes all shots of actors’ bums, which can currently be viewed on Richmond Ham’s YouTube channel.

The spot racked up 360 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to date, of which 345 have accused it of inappropriate nudity. The investigation was announced earlier today.

The number of objections would have made the ad the third most complained about spot of 2011.

The spot first launched earlier this month as part of a £3m marketing campaign to support the relaunch of the Richmond Ham range as 100% natural product.

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Best brands are disruptively consistent

Mark Ritson

I’ll never write a book on branding. I don’t have the time to sit down and commit the months, probably years, it would take to create something of value on the topic of brand management. And the people I have spoken to who have committed that kind of time to writing a management book invariably regret it down the track.