ITC Rejects Stereotyping Complaints

Travel agent Thomas Cook successfully defended itself to the ITC in June when one of its TV commercials prompted the largest number of complaints for that month.

A total of 29 viewers complained about the ad, in which a young Afro-Caribbean man and woman meet in a supermarket. The man asks the woman how long it has been since they’d last seen each other, noticing that she is heavily pregnant. She replies “About nine months”. A worried look crosses the man’s face as an end line states “It’s time to leave the country.”

Complainants felt that the commercial was racist and portrayed a stereotype of young black/Afro-Caribbean men as promiscuous and irresponsible. Fortunately for the travel agent the ITC was not convinced that the advertisement exploited any established racial stereotype, and that viewers were likely to understand that the commercial relied on a broad stereotype of young men in general for its humour.

In deciding that the use of the stereotype in this instance was unlikely to be harmful or offensive to most men, the ITC did not agree that the advert was unsuitable for broadcast.

ITC: 020 7306 7743 www.itc.org.uk

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