Aldi removes Christmas ad after Ad Standards breach
Aldi Australia has pulled its 60-second Christmas spot from circulation following an Ad Standards ruling that a scene featuring the indoor use of a barbeque was in breach of the Australian Association of National Advertiser’s (AANA’s) health and safety standards.
The ad, created by BMF, featured a number of bizarre, exaggerated scenarios in which at-home cooks wrangle larger than life Christmas dishes.
Since its launch in November, it has received a number of complaints relating to the AANA Code of Ethics Sections 2.1 Discrimination or Vilification, 2.3 Violence and, 2.6 Health and Safety.
These complaints referred respectively to the superimposed face on a potato in one scene, raised as potentially discriminatory to people with skin conditions (Section 2.1) and as resembling disembodied head (Section 2.3). Violence was also attributed to a scene featuring a man covered in strawberries, who could be mistaken to be covered in blood. Another scene depicting the indoor use of an aflame barbeque was the subject of complaints referring to section 2.6.
“The ad shows a chopped head on a dining table. It is offensive and frightens little kids. It’s inappropriate as a Christmas food table set up,” read one complaint.
In response to the complaints, Aldi denied that the spot was in breach of the code.
In particular, Aldi denied the breach of health and safety standards, noting the advertisement’s “exaggerated or fantastical elements”, which as per Section 2.6 practice notes, Aldi claimed “are unlikely to be seen as realistic by the relevant audience, are unlikely to be found to be encouraging or condoning unsafe behaviour”.
Ultimately, the Ad Standards community panel did not find the ad to be in breach of Section 2.1 or 2.3, but asserted that the depiction of a person barbequing indoors was contrary to “Prevailing Community Standards on health and safety”, and thus found Aldi in breach of the Code.
In response, Aldi has removed any future live dates for the 60 second commercial, while the 30 second version, which does not include the barbeque scene, will remain in grocery brand’s media plan.
And I guess the mountain of carrots was distressing too.
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Good grief. What is happening to our Aussie society? We’re becoming oversensitive, complaining about the slightest little thing. I am from the baby boomer generation and think that the Aldi Christmas ad is funny and entertaining. It’s blatantly fantastical with huge vegetables and talking potato heads, and the scene with the woman peeling hundreds of carrots is hysterical. Please people, lighten up and stop seeking out your pet peeves for the sake of having something to complain about.
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Ad is funny and good. People complaining because they are sad, not positive in own live.
Those who complained about this ad must be like politicians not live on real world.
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Society is doomed.
When pc cancelled comedy. This is what you get. A bunch of whinny, boring, complaining people. Who look for any excuse to be a Karen.
To connect that potato with anything but a singing potato. Means, you must have a hard time picking your vegetables at the store. It also means you probably didn’t get the stupidity whipped out of you by your parents when you were a child.
The only complaint relevant and even then it’s basically well, that’s just stupid. Is the indoor bbq.
It’s not violent it doesn’t resemble violence. It’s satire. A pretty obvious example of satire at that.
Congrats to the Buzz killingtons of Australia. Who go around and ruin things for people who just don’t care. Until you ruin things for them.
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Just shows the how society has lost there marbles, its just an ad some people clearly dont have a life but to rather sit and find any thing to complain about. We need to go back to stone age when life was hard but better than this
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Amused at the histrionics in the comments pretend the PC youth have somehow cancelled this ad when that demographic barely watches FTA ads. I can think of one demographic still watching FTA in droves and would be compelled to contact the ASB and it sure as heck isn’t Gen Y or Gen Z.
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And what about chopped pumkin head for Halloween? Are they offensive and scary for little children? What a nonsense.
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Come on people – creativity is subjective. It’s ok not to like it, doesn’t mean it should be banned.
Let’s just fill our screen with “Down Down, Prices are Down” ads instead then….
Although, I do find the big red hand offensive as I once scalded myself with boiling water while cooking Coles carrots. When I see this ad I feel ridiculed by Coles and find it offensive…
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Same mentality of the viewers who complained about ‘Bluey’.
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Aldi Ads are so different in creative nature compared to the big 2 you get the consistent message and given retail is either about $, down down down or fresh food its refreshing to have some humour, its a big crazy world out there.
The 1 I like is the lady telling the cashier you are always my first choice.
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Geez people need to harden up and stop being so sensitive. What a joke it’s an ad I cannot believe people are offended by it 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
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Haha that would be great. We could rid society of all the idiots in about 4 days. They won’t survive as soon as their phone dies.
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It’s par for the course for competitors to make these kinds of complaints to throw rocks at one another. I’ve seen it happen regularly in multiple categories. I’m sure that there are plenty of Colesworth marketing team members with plenty of time on their hands, who also wish they were able to make work this good.
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Aldi always has the best Ads. People are so small minded. The gluttony that calls itself Christmas deserves a good ribbing. Why do people have to be such spoil sports?
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Not a moment too soon!
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The spud head was jarring. Everything else was people with big products, the spud head was ….a severed head channelling Baldrick.
The singing was annoying enough to hit mute..
Humour got lost in a weird grey dirge..
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It is time people got a life and stopped being so silly over minor issues.
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I would like to add that my partner and I have always enjoyed Aldi’s Christmas campaign but this year it fell really short.
The whole ad was just dreadful, made little sense, filled with weird images. We struggled to understand how everything came together as a Christmas ad! I am pretty sure we didn’t like the 2022 one either. Bring back the surfing Santa’s.
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Thank bloody gorgeous. The whole add was revolting. .sorry.
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You’re supposed to take the hand off when cooking the carrots. Everyone knows that…
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Please don’t use a chainsaw when cutting up the ham either.
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It’s a horrible ad I couldn’t stand it f I’m the start anyway
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This is beyond protection and stifles ad creativity for no reason. No reasonable person would do any of this!
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