Apia ad featuring driver selfie banned by advertising watchdog

Tim Burrowes

March 17, 2017 3:59

A new ad for Apia featuring young people making life mistakes has already been banned by the advertising watchdog because it shows a driver posing for a selfie while at the wheel.

Consequences of the selfie were not serious enough for the ASB

The ad features a band of 50+ musicians looking on wryly as youngsters make the errors. It includes a car swerving because the driver is momentarily distracted by being in a photo.

However the TV ad has already generated complaints to the Ad Standards Board watchdog, which quickly moved to ban the ad.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.