Store’s breast-grabbing Santa office party ad slammed by Ad Standards Board
A raucous office Christmas party featured in a letterbox-delivered brochure for discount store Cheap as Chips has been censured by the Ad Standards board.
The ad drew complaints about a worker portrayed wearing just a mankini, with Santa’s face covering his genitals, while another staffer dressed as Father Christmas apparently grabs a laughing female colleague’s breasts.
One complaint to the ASB stated: “The photo of the office party 2017 is offensive on several levels. The promotion of alcohol appears excessive, the man-kini is inappropriate but the perceived behaviour of ‘Father Christmas’ appears at a glance as though he is groping his female coworker, standing over her with an over familiar expression on his face.”
Cheap As Chips ignored the ASB’s invitation to defend the ad.
UPDATED 2:50pm
Cheap as Chips CEO, Shane Radbone, said in a statement to Mumbrella: “Contrary to one on-line newsletter report, we weren’t even contacted.
“We didn’t set out to offend anyone – just to promote some of our novelty Christmas items which just happen to include a festive mankini and a novelty apron – neither of which reveals more than
the plentiful range of lingerie catalogues that also turn up in my letterbox at Christmas!”
The advertsiement was displayed in its catalogue
The ASB ruled:
“The Board noted that one man is located at the front of the image and is wearing a man-kini which comprises a Santa head placed over his genitals.
“The Board noted that the additional images in the office such as the man grabbing the woman’s breast, the text ‘office party’ and the presence of alcohol are all elements that add to an overall sexualised context to a work Christmas party.
“The Board also considered that the inclusion of the man wearing only a man-kini was quite prominent in the advertisement and was imagery that drew attention to his nudity.
“The Board noted that the advertisement is part of a catalogue which is distributed in mail boxes and that the audience for material distributed in this manner is likely to include Children, particularly in the lead up to Christmas.”
Was Santa fondling his colleague’s breasts, or was he holding a red cup? And were his fingers Photoshopped in later?
Focusing on the question of the woman’s breasts being “fondled”, the board added:
“The Board noted that there is significant community concern regarding sexual harassment and appropriate behaviour in the workplace and that the depiction of the man grabbing the woman on the breast is not behaviour that is acceptable in this environment.
“The Board noted that the woman is wearing a novelty apron and that it is likely that her actual breast is not being fondled. In the Board’s view however, the impression is that she is being touched and that the advertisement is suggesting it is acceptable to do so because of the party situation.”
The ASB ruled that the ad breached its rules on meeting prevailing community standards.
Abigail Dawson was Mumbrella's senior content journalist covering event content. She left Mumbrella to move into an agency role in 2020.
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This was a contender for ad of the year otherwise. So bad its good
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More of the same old PC panic and the watchdogs of the self imposed moral vigilantes.
The scenario concept is very poor, the artwork rudimentary, and at least one of the characters is tasteless, but the man in the Santa hat is quite obviously not groping the breasts of the woman close to him, and doesn’t even appear to be doing so despite the highly unlikely positioning of his fingers.
Apart from being tasteless and poorly conceived, the ad is lame and forgettable.
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Gosh, now where would we be without a middle class white male to pop in and tell us how the world has become a dark and terrible place for anyone who wants to be an asshole just like back in the 70s.
You’re doing God’s work Dick, never let your light go out you crazy snowflake.
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PC gone crazy. The ad is neither tasteful nor tasteless.
It certainly is not worthy of comment
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Darling Edna,
The man dressed as Santa is clearly not fondling or touching the breast of the woman (who might be his wife) and the man in the mankini shows no genitalia and has only marginally less coverage than had he been wearing boardshorts.
So, please tell us what offends you so much in this ad.
Love,
Norm
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I couldn’t care less about the ad, Norm. What I do care about is shitty old middle class white males such as yourself that litter this industry and spend their time pissing and moaning that they can’t run PR companies like they’re in an episode of Mad Men.
While I’m sure you personally are a bastion of tolerance, equality and restraint, there’s a vast number of assholes who are lazy, exploitative bastards who create a sordid undercurrent of misogyny that everyone knows about.
Also, if you can’t tell that that advert is intended to be lazy, sexist bullshit by calling on a number of well known cultural tropes, I suggest you send your PR qualifications back to whichever cereal manufacturer made the box you cut them out from.
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She “might be his wife” ! Good grief. I know it’s traditional for blokes still living in the seventies to stretch plausible deniability to its limits, to weasel out of accoutability but when even the advertising standards board draws a line, just admit it. The ad doesn’t pass. And if you’re reading Mumbrella, you oughtn’t be pretending that suggestive images in ads are accidental; that it “just happens” to look as if he’s gone for the grope, as if there’s no point hiring advertising professionals because it’s all a bit haphazard anyway and they don’t actually carefully construct the images they publish.
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Thank you, Dame Edna. Well said.
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So if it’s printed and delivered, what recourse is there for the ASB?
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The lecherous santa with the crowd of cucks egging him on is creepy. Not sure what nigel-no-friends is doing in the background fiddling with his conifer.
Personally don’t have a problem with the bloke in the mankini, he looks a friendly chap – but I think that it technically comprises of rudolph being compromised rather than santa.
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The guy is not groping the womans breasts. He is holding a beer glass.
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Darling Norm,
Firstly, I’ll choose not to focus my energies on your contrived greeting to Edna, I would be wasting my time as I’m sure your 2nd hand Weber BBQ & Tommy Bahama Shirt personality would not see anything wrong with this.
That Santa is groping, if you got your head out of the Herald Sun for a second and really looked at the scene in this ad, you might be able to see this.
But as I’m sure you think, ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ right?
The fact that as a grown man, you have decided to use your ADSL2+ internet connection to defend this ad, shows you really need to adjust the focus of your daily energies. Maybe you can go down to Beaurepaires and kick some tyres?
Best,
Lachlan
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