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Charlie Sheen saves the day as Ultra Tune’s ‘Rubber Girls’ plunge into ocean in summer campaign

Charlie Sheen is on hand to save the day in the latest iteration of Ultra Tune’s Unexpected Situations campaign when the brand’s ‘Rubber Girls’ plunge into the water with their vehicle.

The brand frequently finds itself the subject of complaints to the ad watchdog, topping the list of most-complained about ads in both 2016 and 2017. In 2018, the brand was beaten to the top spot by Iselect. 

In this iteration of the campaign, Sheen – the latest celebrity to offer their face to the brand after Jean-Claude van Damme and Mike Tyson – allows the girls onto his boat so they can dry off and call for help after their brakes fail and the car ends up in the ocean.

The ad also features a signature cameo appearance by Ultra Tune’s national marketing director, Rod Cedaro, who asks if Sheen is having boat trouble.

The number plate of the car the ‘Rubber Girls’ were driving

Ultra Tune announced Sheen would front the ad in November last year, adding the convicted domestic violence offender to the list of controversial celebrities used in the Unexpected Situations campaign including former boxer and convicted rapist Tyson.

Tyson’s Ultra Tune ad received 134 complaints last year, however, the ad was cleared by Ad Standards as Tyson did “not promote his convictions nor condone sexual harassment in any way”.

Cedaro, as well as Ultra Tune’s CEO Sean Buckley, have frequently defended the ads, saying they are light-hearted and represent a hyper-reality which should not be taken seriously.

“If they didn’t work, I’d have them off the air before you could sit down… I think I know what I’m doing. The ads work brilliantly,” Buckley has told Mumbrella in the past.

“It’s a bit like Trump. Nobody thought he would win because people didn’t want to admit that they liked him and were going to vote for him.

“People like these ads”.

Cedaro has contended the ads empower women.

Defending an ad where the Ultra Tune ‘Rubber Girls’ are stuck on the tracks in a car with a train quickly approaching, Cedaro told an audience at Mumbrella’s Automotive Summit: “The empowerment there was they [the women] actually were forward-thinking enough to actually exit the car”.

“We don’t see a problem with the ad, we get very very good cut through with the ads,” Cadero noted, drawing attention to the fact only one complaint to the Ad Standards Board was upheld and contending it was only “banned on a technicality”.

The “technicality” was the implication the women died once being hit by the train.

The ad was then re-cut to show the women walking away from the accident.

He added: “The majority of the general population is sick of political correctness.”

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