Racist, sexist, ageist and misogynist: Adland’s most offensive banned ads in the last quarter

Welcome to Tuesdata, our weekly analysis for Unmade’s paying members.

Below, we examine the Ad Standards standout rulings that went against the brands in the last quarter. Brands featured include Good Folk Brewing Co, Simply Helping, Novo Shoes and Belka Games.

Further down, an extraordinary day for the audio industry on The Unmade Index.

And below the paywall you’ll find the coupon code for our end-of-year review Compass, taking place in Sydney and Melbourne. Compass kicks off in Sydney tonight. Unmade’s paying members are entitled to a complimentary ticket. Upgrade today.

Political incorrectness, racism and hyper-sexualisation: Inside Ad Standards’ naughty corner

Seja Al Zaidi writes:

Politically incorrect advertising is still falling foul of Australia’s advertising watchdog, analysis of complaints upheld by Advertising Standards in the last quarter suggests.

Since Unmade analysed complaints for the first half, a further 105 rulings have been published. Of those, 24 were upheld.

While the trend has continued for fewer large advertisers found to be breaking the rules, smaller players have often triggered complaints from the public to Ad Standards – the industry-funded body which regulates ads.

Among the offending ads this time were a politically incorrect quartet, found to have breached the rules by being racist, sexist, ageist and misogynist.

These are the four politically incorrect ads which broke the rules:

Good Folk Brewing Co – ‘Incredibly racist’

One offender whose ad in question featured on its social media page, Good Folk Brewing Co, got in hot water for a Facebook post that depicted a black can of beer and a caption reading ‘Once you go black….’.

The complainant:

This has incredibly racist connotations by the phrase “once you go black”. I am appalled that someone would think this was acceptable in this day and age.

Good Folk swiftly removed the ad and offered a conditional apology:

“Ad has been removed – in no way did we set out to offend anyone. If that was the case we removed the ad instantly. It was a play on words about our black beer and not in anyway racist towards people.”

The Panel considered the statement in the ad to be “a form of fetishisation based on race”.

It ruled that the ad leaned on “the well-known saying ‘once you go black you never go back’, a reference to the stereotype that once ‘you’ (typically as a white person) have sex with a person of colour you will find it so enjoyable you won’t want to have sex with anyone from another (typically your own) race.”

The panel added that this “discriminates against people of colour by dehumanising them and reducing them to objects of sexual desire”.

Novo Shoes Group – ‘Unnecessary sex poses’

In July, mid-range women’s shoe brand Novo joined regular offender Honey Birdette in being found to have used sexualised advertisements.

Novo’s ad featuring what the complainant claimed was “unnecessary sex poses and use of suggestive poses of model wearing shoes in the free to air TV ad.

The panel ruled that the different poses and body parts in the ad that may be construed as overtly sexual, such as the observation that “the woman was depicted as wearing a leotard and the sexualised movement meant that there was a focus on her upper legs and buttocks.”

The panel ruled that Novo – which did not respond to the complaints – “did not treat sex, sexuality and nudity with sensitivity to the relevant audience.”

Simply Helping – Refers to old people as ‘wrinklies’

Ageism was the next frontier of offensive content punished by the Ad Standards community panel.

Simply Helping, a domestic services business targeted at older and disabled demographics, released a TV advertisement depicting a young woman saying: “Hi, I’m an actor with a serious voice. This is Jean. Jean’s old”.

Helpers were then shown doing various chores in the background of Jean’s home, while she was seated in a wheel chair with a bandaged foot. The actor then says, “Simply Helping offers flexible in-home care services to anyone… not just the wrinklies”.

The complainant took offence to the term “wrinklies”:

This is Jean she is old “is what the narrator says…..the ad is ageist and sexist and speaks and implies Jean is too old and inept to live independently. It is derogatory in tone and plays into sexiest and ageist stereotypes. It also refers to old people as wrinklies which isn’t funny but offensive. I find the advertisement age discrimination.

The community panel upheld the complaint, deciding that ‘Jean remains the subject of the joke’ in the ad, noting the use of the term ‘wrinklies’ was, unlike the term ‘old’, inherently negative and disrespectful. They concluded that the advertisement did portray material ‘in a way which discriminates against or vilifies a person or section of the community on account of age’.

Simply Helping reedited the ad to remove the word.

Belka Games – “Extreme violence towards women”

The ad for the Bermuda Adventures game, made by Belka Games, had been running on social media in recent months in a number of variances.

One version of the ad featured a woman and man standing near an open plane door, when a thought bubble above the woman’s head indicates she’s thinking of an engagement ring – that’s before the man pushes her out the. door and waves while she tumbles down.

The second version follows the same narrative, except the woman is pushed off a boat by the man, and shown crying in the water as he waves goodbye. Aside from often depicting gameplay or plot lines that weren’t actually in the advertised game, the ads typically feature sexist tropes, one of which was called by this complainant.

“I would like to complain in the strongest possible terms about a video game advertised by Microsoft. The game is Bermuda Adventures: Farm Games by Samfinaco Limited. 2 of the games start with extreme violence towards women. 1 starts with a woman being pushed out of a plane, and a second where a woman is pushed off the back of a boat. Both women are portrayed to be expecting an engagement ring, but are unceremoniously pushed by men with smiles on their faces and waving. This is in extremely unacceptable and in bad taste.”

The Panel found the ads to unjustifiably depict violence against women, in ways that were not ‘relevant’ to the actual game itself.

With less than two months left of the year, Ad Standards only just beat last year’s low of 61 ads found in breach. Of the 221 total case rulings made this year, 65 had been upheld.

Seven’s radio raid drives up the Unmade Index

The Unmade Index swung back upwards yesterday on news of Seven West Media’s acquisition of 20% of ARN Media. It rose 0.52% to 594.3 points – outperforming the wider ASX which fell.

ARN rose the most – 10.12% – while audio rival Southern Cross Austereo saw a 7.03% increase in share price. Seven itself rose 1.85%.

Meanwhile Ooh Media rose 0.74% and out of home player Motio by 7.14%.

Domain dropped 1.12% in share price, Enero Group 3.17%, Nine 0.52% and Sports Entertainment Group 8.70%.

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