Radio industry body ad cleared for repeatedly using the word shit
A radio ad to promote digital radio has been let off by the Ad Standards Bureau for supposedly using foul language.
The ad watchdog threw out a complaint made against a spot for Commercial Radio Australia, where a series of weather announcements are distorted by radio static due to poor reception.
The complaint read: “Although semi- bleeped out by a mis-tuned radio sound, the use of the word shit is quite clear as only the ‘I’ sound is omitted. It is repeated several times.”
CRA responded by saying that since the ad has been broadcast four times a day, seven days a week, on 42 stations in the five capital cities in which DAB+ digital radio is on air since the beginning of April last year, and has only received a single complaint, most listeners “recognise the humour in this advertisement”.
The ASB ruled that the use of the word ‘shit’ was in a manner “consistent with colloquial usage in Australia” and was used not in an aggressive way.
Shit happens.
User ID not verified.
Shit isn’t an offensive word anymore. Neither is fuck. And in Australia, nobody cares if you drop an occassional C-bomb, so long as it is in context, or makes someone laugh.
User ID not verified.