ASA Adjudication on Woolworths Group plc

Ad

A TV ad, for a DVD of the TV series Little Britain, showed a series of short clips from the programme, which included a woman vomiting, one character shouting “Fat cow! Fat cow!” at another character, and a character licking a man’s face.

Issue

1. Five viewers objected that the ad, and in particular the scene of the woman vomiting, was offensive and unsuitable for broadcast when viewers might be eating breakfast.  

2. Some viewers believed that the ad was unsuitable for broadcast during the day, when children might be watching, because they believed the scenes featured adult content.

3. One of the viewers objected that the scene showing a character shouting "Fat cow!  Fat cow!" was offensive.

BCAP TV Code

BCAP TV Scheduling Code

Response

2 entertain Ltd, on behalf of BBC Marketing, said they had received five complaints about the TV ad for the Little Britain Series 3 DVD. They explained that the ad highlighted some of the most memorable moments from the series to encourage people to buy the DVD and were not intended to cause offence.

The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) said Little Britain was a popular TV series with a type of humour that appealed to many, but was not to everyone's taste. They nevertheless believed that, even if viewers were unfamiliar with the programme, the characters were obviously exaggerated and the antics they performed, such as projectile vomiting, licking people's heads and chanting "Fat cow!" were obviously intended to be ridiculous and unreal.

1. The BACC said, because the humour was not to everyone's taste, it was difficult to assess timing restrictions. They explained that it was impossible to know when viewers would be having their meals and they did not take this into account when considering timing restrictions for ads.

2. The BACC said they had imposed an ex-kids scheduling restriction on the ad to prevent it being shown around children's programmes. They believed this was sufficient, because it would not be shown when children under four years of age were most likely to be watching; they said children older than four were used to viewing over-the-top characters and imagery in their own television programmes and would view the ad in the same light.

3. The BACC said, because the character chanting "Fat cow!" was the same body build as the character being shouted at, they hoped any potential to offend had been removed.

Assessment

The ASA noted the ad had been given an ex-kids restriction and we acknowledged that the programme and the clips featured in the ad would not be to everyone's taste.

1. Not upheld

We noted the vomiting scene was very brief and clearly fictitious. We considered that most viewers would see it as humorous and concluded it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.

On this point, we investigated the ad under the CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 6.1 (Offence) but did not find it in breach.

2. Not upheld

We considered that most children who saw the ad would understand that it contained scenes from a TV programme and that the clip of the character licking a man's face would be unlikely to be understood by children as sexually suggestive. We noted the scheduling restriction meant it could not be shown during programmes aimed at or specifically made for very young children and concluded that the ad was unlikely to cause harm to children.  

On this point, we investigated the ad under the CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 7.3.1 (Mental harm - Children), 7.3.7 (Scheduling restrictions) and CAP (Broadcast) rules on the Scheduling of Advertisements rule 4.2.3 (Treatments unsuitable for children) but did not find it in breach.

3. Not upheld

We noted the size of the character chanting "Fat cow!" and considered that the context would lead most viewers to find the episode humorous, not offensive.  We considered that the clip was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.

On this point, we investigated the ad under the CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 6.1 (Offence) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action required.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)