Sticky Situation For Cadbury Ads After ASA Ban
Advertisements for Cadbury’s Trident chewing gum have been banned by the ASA following more than 500 complaints, after the commercials were ruled to be offensive and portraying harmful stereotypes.
Several ads in the series, which were created by agency JWT, were deemed to be unsuitable for broadcast because they had breached certain broadcast codes.
One television commercial depicted a black man speaking in rhyme with a strong Caribbean accent. He was shown on stage, in what appeared to be a comedy club, complaining about the blandness of chewing gum.
A member of the audience gave him some Trident chewing gum – he then appeared so enthusiastic about the taste of it, that he ran out of the club in an excited manner and said “he must tell the whole world”. He was finally shown on a boat sailing past the Houses of Parliament shouting “Mastication for the Nation” through a megaphone.
Another TV ad showed the same black man as in the previous ad running along a busy street and shouting about Trident gum in an excited manner. He then burst into a laundrette and told the people there about Trident gum. A woman offered him some Trident Splash gum that appeared to make him even more excited, and he then ran out on to the street shouting “Mastication for the Nation”.
A third TV ad showed a white, middle-aged woman at a women’s meeting speaking in rhyme about the Trident gum in a Caribbean accent, when she was supposed to have spoken about late summer chutneys. She raised up both her arms and shouted “Mastication for the Nation” at the end of her speech.
A fourth TV ad showed a white man, at what appeared to be a parrot-fanciers club meeting, speaking in rhyme about the Trident gum in a Caribbean accent. He raised up his right arm and shouted “Mastication for the Nation” at the end of his rhyme.
Many viewers challenged whether the TV ads were offensive and racist, because they believed they showed offensive stereotypes and ridiculed black or Caribbean people and their culture.
Cadbury Trebor Bassett (Cadbury) said they took all complaints very seriously. They explained that Trident gum was an established global brand and for its launch in the UK, into a monopolised market, they had chosen to depict a humorous and tongue-in-cheek “gum revolution”.
They said they had used a performer of dub poetry as the revolutionary spokesman because they believed he had a charismatic quality that appealed to the target audience of 16-to-34 year olds.
Cadbury said the campaign, which was developed in line with the Cadbury Schweppes’ Marketing Code, had gone through a qualitative and quantitative research process, during which they sought views from the general population as well as representatives of the African Caribbean community.
They explained that the research had shown people either loved or hated the ads, and that two-thirds of respondents in both groups, when prompted, had found the ads funny, but some had nevertheless found them offensive.
They also provided research covering the first three weeks of the Trident campaign that showed that there was a decline in the number of people finding the ads offensive and an increase in them being considered fun. Cadbury believed this was due to a greater understanding of the integrated campaign; they pointed out that, overall their research had shown that consumers now described the Trident brand as adventurous, youthful, playful and distinctive.
The ASA noted that Cadbury’s research had shown that the ads were likely to result in a polarised reaction from viewers and approximately one in five of the British African Caribbean sample had found the ads offensive.
The advertising standards body said that scenes of the black man’s extreme response to tasting the product had resulted in a significant minority of viewers inferring that his exaggerated behaviour and strong accent were a humiliating and negative depiction of black or Caribbean people.
Complainants told the ASA: “it portrays us as objects to be laughed at”; “this near Driving Miss Daisy degradation of singing songs for the whites sickens me”; “this man’s behaviour shows anything but a positive role as a black man”; “it is as if it is laughing at black people who campaign for equal rights” and “depicting times of a Minstrel Show, or where black people used to have to do degrading things to ‘entertain’ white people”.
The complaints that the imitation of the strong Caribbean accent and mannerisms by the white people in some of the ads had been seen by the viewers who complained to be insulting, derogatory and demeaning to people of black or Caribbean heritage, said the ASA.
The regulator recognised that many viewers had not interpreted the actions of the main characters, particularly the dub poet, as Cadbury had intended and had been offended by what they saw as the negative stereotype of black or Caribbean people and their culture.
ASA: 020 7580 5555 www.asa.org.uk