Irn-Bru win ‘Mum’ advert complaint battle
The televised advert features a well-endowed mother named Linda showing off her cleavage to her teenage son and his two friends, with the son drinking Irn-Bru to help cope with the shock.
It attracted 176 complaints, with some viewers claiming the advert was sexist, demeaning to women and unsuitable for children. However, the Advertising Standards Agency said yesterday that the commercial was clearly a joke, adding that they considered ‘most viewers would interpret the situation as surreal...rather than as depicting realistic and sexually inappropriate behaviour.’
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Hide AdThe drink’s makers, AG Barr, have gained notoriety for their near-the-knuckle marketing campaigns, and have attracted criticism for adverts in the past.
Ofcom ruled in 2004 that an advert showing a mother shaving and telling her family she ‘used to be a man’ could offend transsexuals while another advert showing a midwife coaxing a baby out of the womb with a can of Irn-Bru also received a large number of complaints.
In 2006, the drinks firm agreed to revise an advert for the Irn-Bru 32 energy drink that featured an aggressive cuckoo, after police expressed fears that it could encourage violence.
The ASA are currently investigating complaints that another of AG Barr’s adverts for the drink is anti-English. A Scots father is seen drinking Irn-Bru to deal with the news that his daughter’s boyfriend is English.
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