Sunday, 15 May 2011
Causing offence
Every year thousands of people complain about adverts, taking offence over messages intended merely to sell products. But which themes are the most controversial and why, asks Tom de Castella.
The most complained about advert of 2010 featured a team of blind footballers kicking around a ball with a bell on it until it goes out of play. Then a cat with a bell wanders onto the pitch, the players restart their game and a painful miaow is heard.
This attempt at a blackly humorous scenario from gambling firm Paddy Power provoked more than 1,300 people into complaining to the Advertising Standards Authority. It contains two themes that are a classic cause for complaint - depiction of disabled people, and ill-treatment of an animal.
With the UK home to millions of avowed animal lovers, it is perhaps surprising that any advertiser would risk even the merest suggestion of cruelty to fluffy creatures.
But the fifth most complained about ad of 2010 - for John Lewis - was another one that featured a less than happy animal. It showed a Christmas scene in which a dog was living in a kennel outside surrounded by snow. It provoked 316 complaints and even calls for a boycott of the company until John Lewis opted to remove the section involving the dog.
One angry viewer posted on a forum: "I felt very low after watching this advert. I feel it condones animal cruelty. A dog left outside in the thick snow could end up with a fatal case of hypothermia."
There's a good reason for using animals in ads, says Claire Beale, editor of Campaign magazine, but there can be pitfalls. "Brands use animals because they tap straight in to the nation's emotions -- cats and dogs, obviously, can be relied upon to get most people drooling, but that same sort of emotional response means there's also a hardcore of consumers who will be worrying about animals being abused or exploited in the name of commercial gain."
Of course, many advertisers adopt deliberately edgy themes either in order to generate media coverage or to to target a particular demographic which is less sensitive.
Humour and absurdism can allow advertisers to push the boundaries. "The Paddy Power ad was designed to appeal to a young, male audience and used surreal humour to temper the shock-value," Beale says. "Most of the people who saw it will have understood it doesn't condone animal cruelty and appreciated that one of the bedrocks of humour is to make us feel uncomfortable."
Disabled campaigners suggested that the portrayal of the blind footballers was demeaning, and a common provocation is is anything that can be construed as offensive to minorities. Other causes of offence include violence, blasphemy, sexism and, a very common source of complaint, general unsuitability for c
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