In the Northern Hemisphere, this time of year heralds the coming of the winter solstice and Polar Night – a natural event where the sun stays below the horizon for more than 24 hours.
This phenomenon is not observed in the UK, but in places like Scandinavia and Northern Russia, twilight will descend for an entire day. During this time, in some countries, the Northern Lights can be seen, or the sky will appear tinged with blues, pinks and purples where the light reflects off the snow. However, in others closer to the North Pole, they will experience pitch blackness. What a long night shift that must be!
Many cultures believe this darkness means the boundaries between worlds are thinner, and spirits and other supernatural beings are closer to us than ever. Chilling stuff…but maybe being contacted by these messengers from another realm is still preferable to having to talk to some of your colleagues?!
Either way, let’s celebrate this time of year with three dark and chilly rulings!
Get your ducks... or penguins... in a row
Our first case deals with a DeadHappy life insurance TV ad that used some very exaggerated "freezing cold house" imagery to highlight cost-of-living pressures, including icicles hanging from a character’s nose and around the room, plus penguins wandering through the house wearing head torches. A complaint argued that the ad made light of people struggling to afford heating, but the ASA disagreed. It found that the cartoon-style animation and over-the-top coldness, complete with roaming penguins and dramatic icicles, gave the ad a clearly comedic feel rather than trivialising a very real issue. While some viewers might have found the humour a little distasteful, the ASA concluded the ad did not cause serious or widespread offence.
In this instance, the advertiser sat on the right side of the line, but care must be taken with depicting certain scenarios, especially when those scenarios might dovetail with a vulnerable group (in this instance, those potentially experiencing financial hardship). You can read more about harm and offence here, and we also have new guidance on vulnerable people here.
Making waves at the top of the world
Our next case deals with an ad for HX Hurtigruten Expeditions promoting cruises to Svalbard, one of the world’s most famously chilly destinations, with the claim that they were “leaders in sustainable expeditions”. The company highlighted a range of environmental initiatives linked to its expedition cruises, which takes travellers to remote Arctic regions, but the ASA considered the ad breached the Code. Because a trip to Svalbard would typically involve flying as well as cruising, consumers were likely to view the expedition as the whole holiday package rather than just the voyage itself. The ASA concluded that describing these cold-climate adventures as “sustainable” was misleading, as the claim wasn’t clearly qualified and didn’t account for the full environmental impact of the journey, including flights.
The environmental rules can be tricky, and there’s a high bar to make absolute claims such as “sustainable”. You can read more about green claims in our Greenspeaking with confidence guidance.
Regulators gone wild
Our last case is rather polarising… it’s an ad for Wild deodorant, which features a woman seemingly masturbating to her laptop in bed, when she is confronted by her polar bear partner, who asks whether she is watching ,“Roleplay?...bondage? Hentai? Foot stuff? Bear on bear? Cosplay? …Gimps?...Not furries?” The woman responds that she was watching a video about climate change, to which the polar bear drops his towel in surprise, revealing (or, rather not revealing, as it’s censored) a large appendage. Ahem. The ad was seen prior to a Minecraft video and the complainant, whose 10-year-old son had seen the ad, challenged whether it was irresponsibly targeted. The ASA noted the advertiser had targeted the ads based on the interests of potential customers and had excluded some channels. However, those exclusions had proved insufficient to prevent the ad from being seen around videos likely to appeal to children, and therefore the case was upheld. Rawr indeed!
The cold hard truth is that all advertisers need to target appropriately, and make sure their ads, where they are sexual in nature, frightening, distressing or advertising age-restricted products or services, are targeted appropriately. You can read more in our Children: Targeting guidance.
Three rulings, three tenuous links to Polar Night. But hey, we learnt a lot, and at the very least, we experienced a very sexy polar bear.
If you have any campaigns coming up and would like advice, feel free to contact our Copy Advice team, day or night! (well, actually, only day. Sorry.)
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