Youfoodz and MLA make most complained about ads for 2017 list

Posted by Andrea Hogan on 20th December 2017

Youfoodz and Meat and Livestock Australia have both made the Advertising Standard’s Board 2017 most complained about ads list.

Youfoodz took out second place for its television advertisement that saw a child use the word “forking”.

The ad received a total of 232 complaints about the use of the child’s language. The Advertising Standards Board (ASB) upheld the complaints saying the word “forking” sounded similar to the ‘F word’ and the ASB had previously upheld a similar complaint.

Youfoodz also came in third for a modified version of the advertisement that saw the word ‘forking’ bleeped out. The complaints over this version of the ad were also upheld.

ASB Chief Executive Officer, Fiona Jolly, said ads with language will often receive large numbers of complaints.

“And even more so if the advertisement depicts a child using bad language.” Ms Jolly said.

Meat & Livestock (MLA) placed sixth on the list for its advertisement that included a Hindu god eating meat.

The advertisement, in which a number of religious figures come together to eat lamb, attracted 144 complaints which were initially dismissed by the ASB.

After a review of the decision, it was however decided that the ads’ phrase “addressing the elephant in the room”, in reference to the depiction of the Hindu God Ganesh, was “deeply offensive and hurtful” to Hindus.

Australian Food News attempted to contact both Youfoodz and MLA about their placings in the list but did not receive responses prior to publication of this article.

 

Related articles

 

Post Views: 905