Fiat ad banned for over sexualisation and portraying unsafe driving
Fiat: “There are no sexual references in this ad”
A TV ad for the Fiat 500 has been banned for depicting unsafe driving and being overly sexualised.
The ad features a feisty Italian woman who transforms into a car in the imagination of a man. It ends with the car speeding off.
The ad was not banned for objectifying women, even though the woman featured in the ad is portrayed as a car.
“With all the media attention on the over sexualisation of girls and young women, this ad doesn’t portray women in a positive light. It equates the woman with a car,” one complaint read.
Chrysler Australia, which owns Fiat, responded to the Advertising Standards Bureau by saying that the ad does portray women in a positive light by “cleverly drawing a parallel between a beautiful woman and a car that people find appealing”.
The car maker also denied that the ad contains any sexual references.
The ASB banned the ad for unsafe driving and not treating sexuality with sensitivity to the audience.
Chrysler removed the ad from air, and said a modified version would run at a later date.
What a load of sh*t – I actually thought it was a clever and well executed TVC… ASB are morons!
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ASB – What a bunch of party poopers
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@ Henry – I thought the same! And this from the guys who allowed the vaginal weeping ads to continue running. Pfft.
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weird ad as it makes the main male character look like a pathetic lame arse. not sure many of us aspire to that.
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Where do I buy one?
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What a load of sh*t. The TVC and the ASB.
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I think it demeans those of us who cant drink coffee without spilling it…
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I really liked the ad – I thought if anything it empowered the woman, she had him wrapped around her little finger, and he ends up looking a bit stupid??
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I thought that the ad was well thought out, and could appeal to both men and women. It is very sexualized, but no more so than any many other ads on tv.
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yet more proof that Australia has become a nanny state …. i feel like our civil liberties have been violated
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Pity. One of the few decent car ads made recently
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Just who was the ‘victim’ of sexualisation in this ad? The bloke ended up looking like a total dick-wad, so it has to be him doesn’t it.
And I’m with NS about the nanny state. Violation of our civil liberties started way back when they made us all drive on the left-hand side of the road and stop at red lights.
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I agree with Daniel.
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This is more blatant pseudo psychological claptrap.
Are we not able to drive these odd, quasi puritanical, backward thinkers out of the world of living, breathing and intelligent people?
We seem to have (finally) grown up enough to recognise ( or at least move towards recognising) homosexual relationships as being legitimate and a normal part of life on earth. So why the hell are we still struggling with the concept of heterosexual fantasy, and the concept of shape, power, colour, beauty and sensation, in connection with sexuality and the drive?
Oh, don’t worry about unsafe driving depictions, remember that we have ads now to warn mobile phone users against texting whilst driving, so all we need to do is extend them to suit sexual fantasising.
Then again, I have a Volvo named Vera and a tractor named Charlotte, so who am I to have an opinion on this?
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The Nanny State marches on. Another poor decision by the Ad Standards Bureau.
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Lets get it right FIAT own CHRYSLER excellent add can not believe how Australia has different rules compared to the rest of the world THE FIAT ABARTH will sell on its own merits go u good thing can not wait to buy one.
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