‘Pornographic’ AAMI dancing girls given the all-clear
AAMI’s singing and dancing advertising fleshfest has been cleared of complaints that its content is sexist.
The Badjar Ogilvy ad “Fair” – inspired by the musical Hair triggered significant debate on Mumbrella over the skimpily dressed women when it launched in December.
And the insurance brand’s ad also triggered complaints to the Ad Standards Bureau. One complained:
“This advertisement utilises females in ‘skimpy’ bikinis washing a car in what can easily be described as of a pornographic nature. If I wanted to see offensive images such as this I would turn on SBS late at night.”
AAMI defended the ad, arguing:
“The ad has been filmed in a world of hyper reality – almost an advertisement as a stage musical. It is very clear that the ad is not depicting a real world environment – but a world where our safe driver is surrounded by these accident prone individuals causing a level of mayhem. The cast has over 100 participants including a selection of dancing girls. There are also road workers, a hippy, 3 women in motorised wheelchairs, a gospel choir, a lady riding a pushbike and a lollypop lady along with various other cast members.”
And the ASB ruled: “The Board noted that there are lots of people shown in the background of the advertisement, including a group of nuns and a group of workmen, and considered that the bikini-clad girls are not the focus of the advertisement but rather part of a large ensemble background cast. The Board considered that the advertisement does not objectify women.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large. He returned to Mumbrella as Publisher in January 2025
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It’s a shame they can’t ban it on the basis that singing/dancing insurance ads are annoying and make me never want to use AAMI as my insurer.
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It may be ruled not in poor taste – but it’s a ruddy annoying ad
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So this means they are putting the shot of the “polishing and waxing” girl back in to the TVC?
What a great day to be alive!
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It is an appalling ad – as terrible as the other “musical” one for pest repelant. How can these companies approve these ads?! Can’t they see the obvious – that the agency has absolutely no “creativity” so they fall back on a cheesey, crappy musical rendition. THey are shockers and an embarrassment to the brands. Wake up! Australian ads are bad enough but these are the bottom of the barrel.
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I love the way human flesh is deemed ‘offensive’ do you think these people remove all the mirrors from their houses and run a mile at puddles ?
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Yes it is very annoying. A friend of mine auditioned for the lead role – he is now very happy to not have got it.
AAMI use to be my insurer of choice, they seem to be spending too much on advertising and looking to recoup that spend with higher than average premiums – they have lost me!
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A pile of rubbish – but nothing wrong with dancing girls!
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It’s the least of their worries.
The largest waste of money for an ad thats audibly unclear and content that is clearly unrelated. AAMI may wish to cut their budget by 80% and they might actually get an ad created that works.
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I love this ad. It makes me smile every time I see it.
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I am not quite sure how this ad would get you to use AAMI.
The old ad that say’s you get straight through to a real person which is their claim to fame, is much more effective than this sexist dancing ad.
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I want to see someone complain about the driver…
I can already see his “Safe Driving” skills are dangerous as he goes 10k’s under the speed limit in the fast lane causing accidents behind him as people are forced to stop !
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I wouldn’t go as far as calling this ad sexist, but the big boobed dancing girls have caused me to look down on AAMI.
It seems more like flaunting than dancing – and that’s probably why i just don’t like it. It seems all the other girls i work with feel the same. We like the first ad in the campaign, but not this one.
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Irritating and painful to watch.
Short of having Frank Walker from National Tiles do the voice over, I don’t think I could dislike this advert much more.
That said, a victory for common sense.
Simon
http://www.TwoCentsGroup.com.au
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“…and considered that the bikini-clad girls are not the focus of the advertisement”.
Well I have to admit, they’re the only bit I focus on in the ad, I didn’t even know it was for car insurance until you mentioned it above, (kidding)
Still better than their “What about me?” ads, (or the second version at least)
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What are we, stuck in the 1950s? I’ve seen more skin in an opening minute of Glee. Can people please go back to their convents and stop wasting airspace with their outrage at things that not only don’t matter, but are completely inconsistent with the world we live in.
If you want outrage, watch Question Time in Parliament or an episode of Australian 60 Minutes – one’s a crime against effective politics (and makes high school bullying seem the norm), and the other is a crime against decent journalism.
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Disappointing. I switched off AAMI after this ad and know others who did.
Wonder if they’re measuring lost feminist clients – male and female – off the back of their choice to run with this.
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The only thing I noticed is the brand equity AAMI is losing by de-emphasising it’s “Lucky you’re with AAMI” musical tag and also using music that anyone can own or license such as “What About Me” and the “Hair” song in the “Fair” TVC.
By all means use music to reposition a brand.
But when you do it make sure the music is consistent, communicates the benefits and personality of the brand and think very carefully about how it effects people emotionally. –
Does AAMI really want to be known as “that annoying” insurance company”.
By the way I couldn’t care less whether the industry likes the ad or not.
It’s the customer that counts.
Marcel.
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@ Marcel from Sonic branding: Pretty sure most of the ‘industry’ posters on here also are consumers who own cars and buy car insurance.
You may not care what industry people think, but AAMI should care what potential customers think regardless of what line of work they’re in…
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I just want to know where that car wash is, I’ll have the cleanest car in Sydney…
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One bit of flesh and we’re all worried for the dissolution of society.
So an ad shows a few knockers on pretty girls. Big deal.
Does the same apply for ads on beach locations? Swimwear / underwear ads?
Who are we trying to protect here and from what?
Bigger real issues in this world.
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So far, none of the comments that are favourable to the ad, or the ASB ruling, appear to be from women. I for one find it objectifying of women (which is one of many forms of sexism), not offensive, as someone who doesn’t know the difference between those things would have it. And so far as the justification goes for the “all clear”, one instance of objectification is all it takes for an ad to objectify (i.e. one naked 10 yr old child among a cast of many dressed children would still be objectionable if the camera focused on that naked child just once) so that argument doesn’t wash. In any case this ad manages to do it more than once and it also uses colour and prominent positioning amongst the group to emphasise the objectifying imagery of the dancing girls. And it doesn’t matter if something is hyper-real or not – the imagery promotes the attitude that the use of women in sexualised imagery, or positioning women as objects to attract customers, still translates to real world ideas about what is appropriate for women to do and what is appropriate to expect them to do/wear as part of their job.
Does your board have ANY sociologists or feminists on it? Any academics who are capable of teasing out such nuances?
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Karen
This is a marketing board, so militant feminists and sociologists are a bit thin.
I’m sad that you take such a misandrist, victim view of the world.
I hope you find the happiness you seek for the world’s oppressed.
However, squawking around a moronic ad, overanalysing and misinterpreting hidden agendas that simply do not exist, is doing yourself and those who are really victims from sexual violence and terror.
To point your efforts in a more constructive direction, why not Google about the Congo situation. It’s a bit stronger than jiggling boobs on an ad, but you’ll be right.
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@ AdGrunt, well said.
I 100% agree that there are bigger issues in the world to feel aggreived about and need to fix…
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polishing and waxing talent at 21-23 seconds – excellence in can-do spirit.
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Fascinating that many males here and on other forums FOCUS solely on the scantily clad women when they praise the ad. We can therefore rest our case that these chicks certainly stand out! (To me they are the focus of the ad and the reason I watch it.)
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the lead dancing girl is HOT!! Anyone know her name? 🙂
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Men have always been drawn to look at woman’s breasts.
This is simply one of the many attractions that nature intended.
It’s not wrong, Its not bad and its definitely not disgusting.
It’s simply part of natures plan to instigate intercourse between males & females. Mankind would not exist without the attraction between the opposite sex’s.
I can honestly say without doubt, the first thing I notice in the advert was the girls beautiful breast’s. The girl was not shown for long and left me wanting to see her again. It was at that point I acknowledged that this was a AAMI advert selling insurance.
From an advertising point of view. It has done exactly what they wanted it to do.
Make us take notice.
I’m not sure why some people out there still think the Human Body is disgusting.
I can only imagine that something terrible must have happened to them in there childhood and for that I am truly sorry.
If you are one of the people that find this offensive and feel the need to complain then you must also understand that you are only part of a very small minority of people that feel that way.
I know its not your fault, It’s simply how some people have been raised.
The human body is beautiful and should not be hidden away.
The girl in the advert looks fantastic and I would love to see more of her.
GET OVER IT
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I find it exploitive of women – obviously. And it turns me off AAMI. Plain and simple..
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