‘Eye rolling’ reference to local call centre is not racist, rules ad watchdog
It’s not racist to promote that a brand has an Australian call centre, the Ad Standards Board has ruled.
The verdict came after the ASB was asked to consider a complaint about insurance brand Choosi.
“One of the women in the advertisement says the following of Choosi: “The Call Center was great” then after a curious pause and a slight roll of the eyes “And Aussie too”. This remark utilizes the racist stereotype that call centers are filled with foreigners, or worse, that Choosi exclude certain prospective employees on the basis of their race.
“Choosi should not be engaging with this racial stereotype or guaranteeing the ethnicity of their staff.”
(Ad courtesy of Ebiquity)
But Choosi argued: “We accept that this implies that we believe there are intrinsic benefits to having an Australian call centre over call centres located elsewhere, in the same way that manufacturers are making similar implications when they label their products as Australian made. Moreover we know that our target market is generally of the same view, with recent research finding that a significant majority of surveyed customers prefer dealing with call centres that are based in Australia.”
The ASB ruled: “The Board noted that the advertisement features a woman expressing her “pleasant surprise” that Choosi has an Australian call centre… The Board considered that the overall tone of the advertisement is pro-Australian based employees and industry and does not depict a negative portrayal of people of any particular race or ethnicity.”
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Ooh pleease!
It was not about race, but the location of call centres – and the overseas handling of private information – plus their lack of understanding of our questions.
I rang one centre and wasted hours acting on their advice, as it was wrong.
There was no rolling of eyes – what a ridiculous waste of resources – a total beat up!
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I didn’t see the eyeroll… Some people just have too much time on their hands, seriously.
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And the ironic thing is, those call centres in Australia will be filled with foreign-born students trying to make a living.
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Can we please demand that the ASB releases the names of the complainants?
They deserve to be subjected to the same scrutiny – and in their case, public humiliation – for their idiotic PC nonsense. Who the hell are these idiots?
Rhetorical question I know – just check the Greens membership rolls for evidence of perpetual victimhood.
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This PC claptrap has become a real monster. Is my claim that I like Australian Camembert in some way offensive to the French? In spite of the fact that they speak English, is it not true that people from Northumberland actually talk funny ?
Is an employee at a call centre in India or Patagonia going to know what I mean by a poofteenth ? Or that “stone the crows” does not mean that I am having a problem with savage birds?
I am as Australian as could be, but I talk like a Pom, and not everyone I converse with understands what the hell I am on about. It is a fact of life.
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I have no problems with this ad at all and in fact believe that we should support those who employ Australians. I for one am sick to death of having conversations with people I didn’t choose to when I can barely understand one word. This is not being racist, it is simply the truth.
The word racist is used way too loosely in this country.
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I have not got any issues with this article, in some cases people’s words are taken out of context what they say and are penilised unnecessarily.
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