Aerogard’s ‘paedo’ in Speedos; and Jeep’s crossdressing dog
If ever you needed reminding of the tough job the Ad Standards Board faces, it’s nicely encapsulated in this demented complaint about the “Summer Lovin'” ad for Aerogard.
While this Euro RSCG work for Reckitt Benckiser deserves condemnation for crimes against music, the following is perhaps a tad less deserved.
“One of the characters a man wearing very very brief red bathers is wiggling his hips to the music but very suggestively – next to him is a young lad who is obviously looking pretty disgusted – the camera pans in on this man and the boy as the man turns and passes a plate of food to him. We always cringe when we see it – it is so suggestive and looks like the man is a paedophile trying to attract the boy.”
Or, you know, the kid might just be embarrassed by his dad…
You may not be astonished to learn that the ASB dismissed the complaint.
It may also not shock you to learn that a complaint about this ad from Cummins Ross for Jeep got the all clear too.
That was despite the following complaint:
“I am disturbed that this appears to be a reference to bestiality in prime time TV hours. I find this totally tasteless and inappropriate. If there is some other way of interpreting this scene I’d love to hear it.”
They ad: “Having to explain to a young person why the dog is dressed in her red corset and why she then gets rid of the boyfriend is something which should not happen as a result of watching a show as harmless as Antiques Roadshow.”
Which misses the real point. Isn’t it unjustifiably cruel making your kid watch Antiques Roadshow?
Tim Burrowes
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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I don’t know… I’m kind of with them on the Jeep commercial.
The beastiality thing is kind of on point.
But I’m not the kind of person to actually write in and complain.
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I would’ve personally upheld an complaint dealing with the first verse…..
“Summer loving out in the bush, summer loving no need to ruuuush” Say what?
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And the Dog Jeep ad… it does insinuate Beastiality!!! The complaint has a point!
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I’m not using enough aerogard, and that’s why I keep getting bitten.
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If we cannot see the fun in these two adds and we keep on complaing tv advertising is heading down a very sterile and boring road…
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@Jeepers. Haha indeed. That most definitely is a stronger argument.
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Yeh – the jeep one does have a hint of beastiality..
But he aerogard one ie a total joke… I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the same wanker who complained about an ad I was involved in as supposedly promoting child prositituion –
THe ASB quite sensibly rejected that complaint. There are really some crazy people out there who see smut everywhere.
Like Mr Mumbrella, with the Aerogard ad, i just saw a kid embarassed by his dad dancing around, not an older man trying to lure a young boy with a sausage.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar….
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Re the Dog in a corset.
Here’s your explanation (to a child): it’s funny because the dog misses spending time with her and is being silly playing dress-up. She didn’t leave the boyfriend, she just wanted to go driving with the dog like she did before she met the bloke.
Isn’t it fun watching Antiques Roadshow with Grandma.
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The second complaint has faulty logic in that a child, on seeing a dog in clothing, would consider that unusual and thus requiring explanation, hence the awkward question.
Like no child has ever played dress up with their pet.
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I saw the jeep ad as light humour and I never drew the bestiality connection until now…
I still dont.
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Bestiality is funny when two conditions are met:
1) nothing really happened
2) the dog is the perpetrator
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What is the matter with people! I think the aero guard ad is great, I just see a young boy being embarrassed by his dad aren,t all teenagers embarrassed by the things their parents do! I know I was, get a life people!
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I thought the dog looked pretty good in that corset.
Mind you I’ve been away by myself camping for a week.
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I really think the people that make the most noise about these issues are trying to deflect attention from themselves. It’s happened time and again when a so called pillar of society has come out against something they have actually been caught for the very same thing they were complaining about.
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advertising standards are there to protect the impressionable and grant, bestiality is never “funny”. you gen-yers just love to get rid of morals, and limits and “parameters” but without them society implodes on itself. look at history.
trying to preserve a “standard” keeps people on their game. it also makes us try harder. a society where everyone “tries hard” accomplishes amazing things. the problem is, the only countries whose people are trying hard anymore are socilaist and tyrannical regimes. and when they get the scent that we’re all just too over our morals and principles to do much, guess what… they’ll come over and make you follow theirs.
you all laugh at the right wing morals and “world-order” of the US, but without them pushing back, the others would have taken over long ago.
but, hey. its just an ad. who cares? those of us who realise its the start of the great decline…
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OK. This is a commercial based upon an adult theme, the vaguest possibility that he may have dressed the dog up, which is potentially embarrassing for about a tenth of a second. Bestiality? come on people- p-l-e-a-s-e. The zoophilic conclusion is I suppose possible, if the viewer is not an animal lover, or the viewer has only recently learned the word and checked it out on the internet, which has resulted in a shock fixation.
CLUE: The dog dresses itself in the exclusively feminine undergarment, in order to regain the centre of attention…..It couldn’t replace the car but it might have a shot at regaining at least a little human affection if it adopts the guise of the humans. Of course, the garment is designed to fit and enhance the woman’s bodily pulchritude, and so fails absolutely on the dog, but it does manage to make a point, and maybe they will include the dog more in future. GOT IT NOW? The sexy garment doesn’t fit, because it doesn’t belong….i.e. People can make love in that way, but dogs can only love and be loved. Sensual Yes, Sexual NO!
I doubt very much that anyone who has owned a dog for some time, who has slept with, hugged and rolled on the carpet or the grass with his/her dog, would consider the bestiality possibility even for a nanosecond.
As for the embarrassingly foolish conclusion regarding the man and the boy, I would advise the viewers who see pederasty in the commercial to take a reality check, and if that doesn’t work, then perhaps seek some form of psychiatric help before it becomes a deep seated obsession.
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If it does insinuate beastiality then that’s fine. Isn’t bestiality more funny than a serious issue?
When the government starts “A Dog is a mans best friend. But JUST friend” ads….
then maybe we should worry.
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I can’t help but agree that if you’re a bit sex obsessed you’d see paedophilia and bestiality in the two ads. But for us who are just normal people with healthy (and normal) sex lives, the Jeep ad is HILARIOUS! I love it!
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