Ad description
A TV ad, for Mentos, showed two girls in a car pulling up alongside two young men and offering them a ride. One of the men responded “Ladies, your car has no rear seat belts, now are we going to skedaddle out of here, or am I going to have to notify the proper authorities, hmm?” On-screen text stated “DON’T BECOME YOUR DAD”.
Issue
Twenty one complainants challenged whether the ad was irresponsible, because they felt it trivialised road safety advice and implied that travelling without a seat belt was acceptable.
Response
Perfetti Van Melle UK Ltd said the ad formed part of a trio of ads that all contained tongue-in-cheek “Dad-isms” to explain their brand philosophy “Stay Fresh”. They told us one of the ads featured the main character being unable to operate his new mobile phone and asking why there couldn’t be a phone that just makes calls; and another featured him getting out of a hot-tub full of attractive women because it was a breeding ground for bacteria. They said the main character in the current ad was shown refusing a lift from two attractive women, because he didn’t want to get in a car with strangers. They advised that neither UK nor Californian law (where the ad was filmed) required drivers or passengers to wear a seatbelt if they were not fitted in a vehicle that was originally made without seatbelts i.e. classic and vintage cars. They told us that, whilst the car used in the ad did not have seatbelts fitted, they had used props to make it look like the driver and front seat passenger were wearing seatbelts, because they believed it was the responsible thing to do. They said that at no point had they actively encouraged, implied or stated that passengers should not wear seatbelts and that the ad simply showed the main character abiding by generally expected standards and not getting into a car with strangers, or into a car without rear seatbelts. They said the tone of the ad was humorous and light-hearted and they felt that consumers would take the “Dad-ism” joke at face value, rather than as encouragement to behave in a way that prejudiced health and safety. They further pointed out that the girls, who represented the “cool” side of life were shown wearing seatbelts, which they felt encouraged the safe wearing of seatbelts.
Clearcast said that whilst the tagline “Don’t become your dad” could be interpreted by some as being an encouragement to flaunt road safety, they considered that viewers would interpret it in the manner in which it was intended i.e. a tongue-in-cheek phrase meant to signify general dullness or being ‘un-cool’, rather than an encouragement to turn one’s back on road safety. They felt the main character’s refusal to get in the car signalled that travelling without a seatbelt would be irresponsible, particularly as the girls in the front of the car were shown wearing seatbelts. They said they believed the metaphorical tone of the ad and the fact it showed normal road safety being adhered to, meant it was socially responsible and did not breach the Code.
Assessment
Not upheld
Whilst the ASA acknowledged that Perfetti Van Melle’s intention may have been to make a light-hearted ad, which poked fun at the main character for behaving in a 'Dad-like' way and refusing to get into a car with strangers, we noted that he did not at any point refer to 'stranger danger' as a reason for refusing to get into the car and we therefore considered it unlikely that viewers would interpret the ad in that way. However, we agreed with Perfetti Van Melle that the ad was clearly light hearted. We considered it would be seen merely as gently poking fun at the main character's refusal to travel without a seatbelt and it did not condone or encourage travelling in a car without wearing a seatbelt. We concluded that the ad was not socially irresponsible.
We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rule 1.2 1.2 Advertisements must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to the audience and to society. (Social responsibility) but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
