Nova’s Ben, Liam & Belle ad discontinued over ‘violent’ chicken parmie incident
Chicken “parmie” or chicken “parma”? A simple question like this could have grave consequences as Nova Entertainment was pinged by Ad Standards for depicting violence in its ad.
In a new free-to-air ad for Nova’s Melbourne breakfast show Ben, Liam & Belle, Belle Jackson corrected Ben Harvey and Liam Stapleton when the latter two referred to the chicken parmigiana as a “parmie”.
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Harvey and Stapleton both had electric collars on, and Jackson was seen pressing a shock button, correcting both to refer to the dish as a “parma” like a Melbourne local.
The network has received a complaint from the viewer that the ad is “very disturbing content and to my knowledge goes against the Australian human rights commission”.
Nova “categorically denied” any attempted use of violence, saying that “the suggestion that Ben and Liam are given a slight ‘correctional’ shock is light-hearted, humorous, and unrealistic, and not intended to convey any suggestion of, or condone, actual violence or pain”.
Oh, and that the shock collars are actually electric dog training collars, which is “legal” to use in Victoria.
However, the community panel upheld the complaint, saying that “although the men were not actually given an electric shock, most people would consider this scene, even if obviously staged, to be violent”.
“The Panel considered that the depiction of someone receiving a painful electric shock was not justifiable in the promotion of a radio program,” the panel concluded.
The ad has since been discontinued.
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Darcy Song was a reporter at Mumbrella, covering media owners, adtech and social platforms. She left in October 2023.
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Absurd that it takes just one delicate daisy’s complaint to derail a tvc. We really are living in the end times.
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