Grill’d roasted over ‘offensive’ in-store posters by Standards Board
ASB: “Shit has no relevance to the advertised product”
Burger chain Grill’d has been given a grilling of its own by the advertising watchdog and ordered to take down a series of offensive in-store posters.
The Advertising Standards Bureau ordered the posters promoting chicken schnitzel burgers be taken down after consumers complained.
“This advertisement is in Grill’d stores and features an image of a schnitzel burger and the text, ‘The Good ScHnITzel’ The letters S H I and T in the word schnitzel are highlighted so they stand out. There is a poster featuring this advertisement and a hanging menu board,” the ASB said.
Approached by the ASB for comment, Grill’d rejected the idea that the posters were offensive and noted that there were on Grill’d premises.
“They are internal posters within Grill’d restaurants and we do not believe it is overtly offensive and we have received (excluding this example) not a single complaint from our thousands of customers we serve each week,” the company said in response to the ASB.
However, the board considered that the public nature of the display, and the fact that the word “SHIT” could be read at a distance, rendered it offensive.
“The Board acknowledged that the word, ‘shit’ is part of the common Australian vernacular and most people would not find the word to be strong or obscene,” it said in the ruling.
“The Board noted, however, that the use of the word, ‘SHIT’ in this instance has no relevance to the advertised product and considered that its prominent display within areas popular with families amounts to a depiction of language which is not appropriate in the circumstances.”
At the time of the publication of the ruling the ASB said the advertiser had not responded to the request to remove the ads.
However, Grill’d told Mumbrella that the ads were now being removed.
“Grill’d have complied with this request and those restaurants to which this applies have been instructed to remove these items with immediate effect,” a spokesperson for the company said.
Simon Canning
They don’t need to take down the posters, they just need someone with a black marker to colour in the C & the H.
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Wow! This is fun advertising that perfectly suits the Grill’d brand. If people are offended by potentially seeing the word SHIT, they should probably have a good hard look at what’s important in their own lives.
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Surely what’s more offensive is that they contain “activated charcoal.” WTF??
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Some people have too much time on their hands!
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Been into Grill’d a few times and never noticed the “shit” reference. Thank god someone complained so they could save the world and bring my attention to it.
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Nanny state…
I find it hilarious
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“Shit has no relevance to the advertised product”
Looking at the ‘activated charcoal’ patty however…
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