ASA Adjudication on Beverage Brands (UK) Ltd

Ad

a. The first ad featured two men wandering around a shop looking for WKD. One pointed up to the shelf containing WKD and said “There it is”; the shop keeper jumped out at them from behind some shelves and said “WKD huh? [He laughed hysterically] You naughty customers” [he waggled his finger at them]. The two men looked surprised and started to leave the shop. The shop keeper waved his pricing gun at them as if it were a real gun and it spewed out price stickers. The shop keeper rushed out of the shop, pulled open his shop coat and displayed his T-shirt, on which the words “I love my WKD side” were printed, and said “I'm loving my WKD side”. The end caption stated “Have you got a WKD side?” and the voice-over said “He's just not got it, have you?”

b. The other featured two men, both finishing bottles of WKD while sitting on a sofa. They looked at each other and then towards the fridge and realised there was only one bottle of WKD left. They raced towards the fridge in slow motion making exaggerated facial expressions. One grabbed the other’s T-shirt to restrain him. As a result, the other picked up a photograph frame of a Schnauzer with a mobility aid for his hind quarters and dropped it. The other dived to catch it and lovingly cradled the photograph in his arms. That gave the other man time to reach the fridge and grab the bottle. He turned around, jiggled the bottle toward his friend and cackled. The end caption stated “Have you got a WKD side?” and the voice-over said “Oh he has, have you?”

Issue

BCAP challenged whether the ads complied with rule 11.8.2 (a) Advertisements for alcoholic drinks must not be likely to appeal strongly to people under 18, in particular by reflecting or being associated with youth culture.

BCAP TV Code

Response

The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) explained that it had considered the individual elements of the ads very carefully.  Their interpretation of examples of juvenile behaviour or humour might be behaviour or humour based upon thwarting or mocking authority figures.  Another theme might involve discomfort for a victim or behaviour normally associated with children.  

The BACC explained that the shopkeeper was a character to be avoided, not enjoyed or copied.  In the ad, the young men were seen to back away from him and found him disturbing.  His behaviour was neither acceptable nor considered amusing.  They added that the shopkeeper was in no sense a figure of authority victim and they had no reason to suppose that the ad was in any way likely to appeal strongly to young people.  

Big Communications said the humour in ad (a) was surreal and in the style of Little Britain.  As such they felt it was less accessible to under 18s than to over 18s.  They explained that the shopkeeper was not behaving in a juvenile way; he was, in fact, absolutely serious, albeit eccentric, in his behaviour.  They added he was a true enthusiast of the brand and hoped to gain approval from people as a result of his WKD brand knowledge.  His approach was misguided and he was shunned as a result.  They maintained that a certain level of maturity was required to understand the psychology and humour of the situation.

The BACC explained that they thought the slow motion action in ad (b) was acceptable because nothing about it made it exclusively, particularly or strongly appealing to young people.  They stated that slow motion action was an old device normally associated with Kung Fu films from the 1970s and 1980s.   They added that slow motion action had been used to great effect in the old Pink Panther films where it was first and most successfully employed.  They claimed that parody made the ad funny and argued that it made the humour sophisticated.  

Big Communications said ad (b) merely depicted adults behaving in a light-hearted way as a release from every-day life.  They maintained that such behaviour was common to all adults and was just guys being guys, not guys being kids.  They thought that the scenario portrayed was alien to under 18s and therefore the humour excluded young people and did not strongly appeal to them.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the BCAP Guidance Notes for rule 11.8.2 (a) stated the purpose of this rule is to prevent ads that might encourage those under 18 to drink, or think they should drink, alcohol. Thus themes that are likely to appeal strongly to those under 18 are unacceptable.  It is not possible to produce an exhaustive list of possible infringements to this rule.  But, as a guide, particular caution should be exercised as follows:

...

Avoid themes that are associated with youth culture; for example, ? immature, adolescent or childish behaviour or practical jokes and any behaviour that seeks to set those under 18 apart from those of an older age group.

...

Humorous treatments cannot be used to circumvent the rule and, in any case, immature, adolescent or childish humour must be avoided.

We considered that the humour in both ads was juvenile, that both ads employed themes that are either associated with youth culture or likely to appeal strongly to adolescents, that the shopkeepers behaviour, when he jumped out from behind some shelves and used his pricing gun as if it were a real gun, was make-believe play-acting normally associated with children and that his wacky, silly behaviour would appeal strongly to young peoples sense of humour.

We considered that the depiction of adults moving in slow motion was behaviour that would strongly appeal to under 18s.  We noted one of the men grabbed the others T-shirt to restrain him in the race to the fridge, a typical childish act that children would do to get ahead of each other.  We considered that the threat of dropping a precious photograph was typical bullying behaviour associated with childhood.  And we considered that the photograph of the schnauzer with a mobility aid would appeal to under 18s sense of humour.

Action

We concluded that both ads had strong appeal to under 18s, breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 11.8.2 (a) (Alcoholic drinks) and should not be shown again.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)