Amaysim burning lawn mower commercial banned by ad watchdog
Mobile phone plan provider Amaysim has had one of its “it’s time to say goodbye” ads banned for showing a man setting fire to a ride on lawn mower.
A complaint posted to the Ad Standards Board objected to the ad on the grounds it showed audiences, which included children, how to set fire to a ride on lawn mower.
Amaysim said the ad never shows the man setting fire to the mower, rather the ad cuts to the man holding a jerry can as he watches the mower burn.
“There is no depiction of the vehicle being set fire, and there is no indication of what is in the can. Moreover, the advertisement as a whole is comic and is not likely to be taken seriously by viewers,” the advertiser said in its defence.
The Ad Standards Board said in the context of a burning vehicle, it is a reasonable assumption that the jerry can holds flammable liquids.
Upholding the complaint, the Board said: “The Board considered that the depiction of a man standing next to flames with a container of flammable liquid was a depiction of a behaviour which would be against prevailing community standards on health and safety.”
Amaysim said it would remove the ad on Saturday 17th of February.
“It was never our intention to offend anyone with our advertisement. The spot was intended to showcase a situation in an over-dramatised yet humorous way. As a company we respect consumers and their concerns and always aim to act responsibly.
“The creative has been discontinued from TV from Saturday, 17 February, and we can confirm it has been removed online,” Amaysim said.
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great. it was a terrible ad anyway.
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The advertiser should know that a ride on mower is not a “vehicle”.
The ASB should know that there is nothing about setting fire to one’s own property that is inimicable to community standards unless it is done maliciously, in perpetration of a fraud or is illegal (probably is).
The concept of the ad itself was quite good until the advertiser sought to depict its prospective customers as people who are so uninterested in saving money that they would burn a perfectly good and valuable mower when it became surplus to requirements. The ad was not at all instructive in the way the complainant suggested.
The main takeaways seem to be that complaints can make up for a small ad budget and ASB decisions often confound.
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I love this ad it’s exactly what will happen to my ride when I finish with itn
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