‘Stupidity breeds stupidity’ – but Ultra Tune ad complaints dismissed
The latest iteration of Ultra Tune’s controversial ‘Unexpected Situations’ campaign has escaped retribution from the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB), despite numerous complaints and lengthy disagreements by the watchdog’s board members about its execution.
Complaints about Ultra Tune’s ‘Muffler Unexpected Situations’ largely related to the sexualisation of the the women who find themselves in trouble in the ad, and the gratuitous shots of their body parts as they battle to contain the fireball which erupted from their vehicle’s muffler problems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjFcEvTl1NQ
Examples of complaints, which rolled in in relation to the brand’s television commercial, internet ad and social media campaign said the spot was “discriminatory and degrading”, promoted “blatant sexism and objectification” and had no place in 21st Century Australia.
Does anyone know which last-century agency produces these ads?
Hi Solange,
When I spoke to Sean Buckley, CEO of Ultra Tune, in January he said the agency behind the campaign was Frontier.
https://staging.mumbrella.com.au/ultra-tune-releases-two-new-ads-insists-wont-get-banned-419723
http://frontieradvertising.com.au/
Other commenters are suggesting it could be a different agency, however I think for now we’ll take Sean’s word for it.
Thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
Pretty genius. Getting lots of free PR. Getting critisized from people who wouldn’t use it anyway, and likely strengthening the advocacy of people who do use the service. It’s from the Milo Yiannopoulos school of marketing.
I see. It’s the fault of ‘social keyboard warriors’ and ‘middle-aged feminists who are after equality’.
Has anyone noticed that it is mainly misogynistic, or racist, or die-hard religious zealots of the ultra-right that think that.
Why don’t these people man-up and accept that they have made mistakes and cop it on the chin – and more importantly – learn from it.
Anyone and everyone makes mistakes from time-to-time. It’s idiots who make the same mistake again-and-again, then have the gall to blame other for their own failings.
Such a lot of words on such a trivial matter. Lighten up, switch off, or don’t buy their product. I personally think they’re great and I have no problem recalling the brand – so job done.
This is what Modern Feminism is now, just looking for things to be outraged at.
Good on the company for standing up to them.
The old argument art imitating life imitating art etc.
If everyone were to be given the benefit of the doubt, and equal opportunity ranged across all of life, then there would be no need for advertisements or car repairers or advertising standards etc etc.
I don’t understand the entire world, any more than anyone else does, but for sure we are not all the same, we are not even close to equal in all respects, and we are human beings, which means we are fallible. We (most of us) are also able to differentiate between reality and fantasy.
Is Fawlty Towers unfair to women because of the way Sybil is portrayed as a sometimes waffling air head with a maddening laugh? Is it unfair to men because of the way it portrays Basil? Is it xenophobic because of the way it portrays Manuel? or promoting bullying because of Basil’s treatment of him?
I don’t think so, because it doesn’t purport to represent all women, all men, all foreigners, or all infuriatingly stupid people. Neither does the Ultra tune ad, or for that matter most other ads.