ASA Bags Golden Wonder For Linking Crisps With Drugs
The ASA has upheld complaints against a series of posters for Golden Wonder on the grounds that they link crisps with illegal drug culture.
One of the ads, headlined “user”, featured a woman on a bicycle with three packets of Golden Wonder crisps. It stated: “This mother of two has a 34.5g a day Golden Wonder habit. Think About It.”
Complainants objected that the ad was “tasteless” and “irresponsible” as it made the comparison between buying a packet of crisps and a drug deal, in a medium that could be seen by children.
The advertisers claimed that the campaign was intended to put the product at the top of consumers’ minds by highlighting the “compulsive” taste of the crisps and by encouraging active searching of the brands. They explained that the ads created the premise that the product was so rare that a black market had been created and consumers were driven to buying and selling the product on the streets.
The advertisers said that consumer feedback showed the campaign was seen as humorous rather than offensive and explained that they had ignored advice from the Committee Of Advertising Practice Copy Advice Team on these grounds. They asserted that the link the complainants had made between the ads and illegal drugs was not intended and was not endorsed by them.
The Advertising Authority considered that readers were likely to understand the humorous message of the ad, but concluded that, because the ads were likely to be seen by children, the link between the illegal drugs culture and crisps “irresponsibly trivialised” a serious social problem. The Authority upheld the complaint and told the advertisers to use a different approach in future.
ASA: 020 7580 5555 www.asa.org.uk
Recent Regualtion Stories from NewsLine ITC Pulls The Plug On Daytime Fire Safety Ads Ofcom Is No Threat To Press Freedom, Insists Jowell ASA Gives Anti-Social Easynet Ads The Boot
Subscribers can access ten years of NewsLine articles by clicking the Search button to the left