Is the joke on you?

27 May 2008
Every business that advertises knows there are lines in the sand which cannot be crossed. But that does not mean that those boundaries cannot be pushed.

Advertisements must meet prevailing community standards of decency and not be offensive. This sounds reasonable – doesn’t it?  But with climbing numbers of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) the question needs to be asked: are we reasonable when we evaluate advertising or do we take ourselves too seriously? Have we lost the capacity to see the funny side of life and laugh at ourselves? 

Commerce is fuelled by advertising. It pervades our lives. Advertising conveys information, stimulates interest in a product or service, encourages discussion and debate, and changes behaviour.  Sometimes it is humorous and entertains us. 

Advertising is an important marketing tool for every business. It provides an opportunity to reach your potential customers and make them notice you.

Through advertising, consumers learn of overseas trends, are tempted to try new products and services, make competitor product comparisons, can discover market prices, are exposed to product and service points of difference – and the list goes on. And we love it (most of the time)! Advertising is one of the ways we keep abreast of what is happening in the ‘big wide world’. 

Often it is advertisements that are the topic of conversation at morning tea. Didn’t those Tui advertisements get everyone talking?  Every time I see the word “Tui” a smile comes to my face – yeah right!

But every advertisement must conform to the codes of the ASA otherwise it could be pulled. There are 13 separate ASA codes advertisers need to think about. Most of the codes are specific to certain industries. 

There is essentially a code for everything. The codes contain rules about: advertising to children, comparative advertising, environmental clams, financial advertising, advertising of food, gaming and gambling, advertising liquor, therapeutic products and services, advertising vehicles, advertising of weight management. And there are two overarching codes – the ethics codes and the people in advertising code. 

The Code of Ethics is concerned with issues of decency and offensiveness. No advertisement should contain anything which clearly offends against prevailing community standards or is likely to cause serious or widespread offence considering the context, medium, audience and product (including services).

But what does this mean? It is obviously a moving platform. What one person considers indecent and offensive will not be the same for another person. We certainly don’t all find the same things funny. The ASA is charged with the task of deciding if an advertisement is indecent or offensive when a complaint is lodged – not an easy task!

A number of complaints have been reported on in the media recently. The Ace Rentals “Whaka” billboard was pulled after a complaint was laid by The Maori Language Commission.  It appears that employing a pun on the Maori language when referring to rental car services is not funny. But (so far) we see nothing wrong with ridiculing ginger haired people in the latest Frank advertisement for ginger beer. 

And then there has been the billboards advertising a remedy for male sexual dysfunction which have been pulled after complaints the words “Want Longer Lasting Sex” upset some Aucklanders and members of the Pacific Island Community. 
 
A Mainland cheese advertisement has also been complained about because it refers to the name “Trudy” as “a fat girl’s name”.  A majority of the ASA thought that although the comments in the advertisement were of questionable taste, a level of humour was intended (as provided for in the codes). The intended humour here prevented the advertisement from causing serious offence to anyone named “Trudy”.

All advertisements need to comply with the laws of New Zealand and should be prepared with a due sense of social responsibility to consumers and to society. But that does not mean that they cannot be humorous or take the mickey.  We need to be careful that we do not lose that aspect of our kiwi psyche.

To avoid your advertisement being complained about, remember:
• everyone will see the advertisement, not just those you are aiming the advertisement at
• some people have no sense of humour - they will complain
• the ASA has a sense of humour, but it is risky to test it. 
If your business does invest in advertising, you can minimise the possibility (and costs) of having to withdraw your advertisement by keeping these basics in mind. In some cases, attracting the attention of the ASA may be intentional. Be funny, but take care.

An edited version of this article was published in Her Magazine June 2008

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