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GREAT BRITAIN |
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Adjudication of the Advertising Standards Authority:
Complaint:
Objections to a poster for a music channel that pictured three differently coloured straws and a rolled up banknote. The bank note seemed to have a white substance on the end. The poster claimed "VH1 Music TV that's not for kids". The complainants objected that the advertisement was offensive and irresponsible and was likely to be seen as condoning illegal drug taking. The advertisers acknowledged that the advertisement was risque but believed it was not irresponsible or offensive and did not condone drug taking. They said they had taken care not to include images that would be deemed offensive, irresponsible and likely to breach the Codes. The advertisers explained that what looked like a white substance at the end of the bank note was created accidentally during printing. They said the images in the advertisement were created using a Warhol-esque screen-print style, which involved layering colours by purposely offsetting them on top of black and white images. The advertisers maintained that that meant the areas missed by colour remained white. They pointed out that the process left white areas on the right-hand sides of the straws.
The advertisers explained that they were a rock music channel; the "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" cliche summarised the rock music industry, which had celebrated excessive and wild behaviour for 50 years. They maintained that they did not condone drug taking and wild behaviour but to ignore its existence was against the essence of rock music. The campaign was devised to demonstrate that the channel specialised in the adult part of the industry, which included an exploration of the "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" cliche. They pointed out that the tag line stated "Music TV that's not for kids". They believed the rolled up bank note was justified by the message they intended to convey.
The advertisers said to avoid offence they decided to make the advertisement humorous by juxtaposing the bank note, an adult image, with straws, a childhood image. They maintained that the images made a vague allusion to cocaine and pointed out that illegal drugs or the act of taking illegal drugs was not depicted. The advertisers argued that the advertisement did not glamorise drug taking, did not condone it and did not imply that cocaine abuse was a socially acceptable activity. They believed readers of the poster would understand that that they were poking fun at the rock industry instead of making a serious comment on drug taking.
Adjudication:
Complaints upheld
The Authority understood that the white substance that appeared at the top of the bank note was an error created by the way in which the poster was printed. It considered, however, that the advertisement obviously alluded to drug taking. The Authority understood that the advertisers had submitted their "Music TV that's not for kids" campaign to the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Copy Advice team for its guidance. It was concerned that the advertisers had published the poster against the advice of the CAP Copy Advice team, which believed it condoned drug taking. The Authority was concerned that, with the tag line "Music TV that's not for kids", the poster implied it was acceptable for adults to take drugs thereby condoning illegal drug taking. It considered that the image used was irresponsible and likely to cause serious or widespread offence. It told the advertisers not to use the image again.
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