LONDON (Reuters) – A saucy radio advert for sausages which encouraged listeners to reveal "where you like to stick yours" was criticized by Britain's advertising watchdog on Wednesday.
The ads for Mattesons smoked sausages elicited 21 complaints from listeners who said they were offensive because of the sexual innuendo and should not have been aired when children were likely to be listening.
"Think about all the things you can stick this tasty, extraordinarily large sausage in," one advert said.
"Mmm... Pizza, pasta, stir fry. You have any ideas? Give me a call and tell me where you like to stick it."
Kerry Foods, which makes the sausages, said its adverts were intended to be tongue-in-cheek and were not designed to be offensive.
The Advertising Standards Authority did not uphold the complaints about the innuendo because it was not sexually explicit, but said the ads could "cause harm to children."
It ruled the ads should not be aired at times when they were likely to be heard by children.
Julie - I was working for BK when the ads for the XXX Whopper with Kathleen Turner doing the voice over were running... they got pulled mighty fast as I remember...
Oh yeah, and the BK ad where the man woke up in bed in the morning and rolled over to find himself face to face with the big plastic head king in the bed with him... that one got edited to show the man rolling over to see the king staring at him through the window...
Condemn all you want...by having generated controversy, they're getting EXACTLY what they wanted. Think about it...the news spread, people post it, and suddenly that company's name is all over the place...in the news, even here, on a weight loss board! Not to mention that the people who'd be likely to be offended and boycott the product probably already have a preferred brand of sausage (I think the research shows that by age 45-50, most brand preferences are set), while the people most likely to think it was cool and funny would be younger people still establishing brand preference.
Now, whenever someone thinks "sausage", this advertisement (and thus the brand) is a bit more likely to pop into someone's head...which is the point of advertising.
I actually wasn't meaning to condemn the ads, I think they are kind of funny myself.
Amanda - I remember hearing a presentation from the ad agency at BK when they were doing the edgy ads with the chicken rock band, etc. They said the same thing you did, that they wanted ads that people would talk about. Love them or hate them, you remember them.
Remember the Quizno's ads with the creepy singing pygmy marmocet or the lactating wolf boy? Same principle. People were talking about them, so they got a lot of bang for a little advertising buck.
Remember the Quizno's ads with the creepy singing pygmy marmocet or the lactating wolf boy? Same principle. People were talking about them, so they got a lot of bang for a little advertising buck.
didn't seem that offensive to me. but what do i know? i'm a dirty b*t*h! lol.
i remember one for some condiment i can't remember what that showed two separate condiments mating to create the new one. yeah... i saw that commercial ONCE on air. lol..