2013 – The most complained about ads of the year
1. LION ‘TOOHEYS EXTRA DRY MOUTH ABUSE’
The Tooheys Extra Dry ‘repay your mouth’ campaign which launched in November has had around 66 complaints submitted to the ad watchdog. The campaign was created by BMF, who also created the infamous ‘Tongue’ ad, and is built on the idea that “being a mouth can be a thankless job” and tells consumers it is time people repaid their mouths for the “years of mouth abuse endured”, suggesting that one way to repay them is with “the clean crisp taste of Tooheys Extra Dry”. One complaint to the ASB read: “It is horror sense to see a face without a mouth in such way. The spitting out of the mouth and the sexualised nature of the toe sucking and kissing is an objectification of the body. The suggestion that the mouth then needs cleansed after sucking and kissing the toes of a women is degrading in implying the uncleanliness of the woman’s body.” The ASB dismissed the complaints.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdzLQ38Cgps
2. VODAFONE ‘KIDULTS’
By my reckoning, <200 complaints total. And we run an advertising standards board for this? What's that cost (I shudder to think). Half of the people who complained wouldn't know if life jumped up and bit them, the other half sit around all day thinking "what can I complain about today". Sheesh! Yeah. I know, I'm having a whinge about people having a whinge.