‘The Sexy Drink for 2’ removed from buses
An outdoor ad posted on the back and sides of a bus that showed a topless man and woman embracing over “Sexy Tea for 2” has been nbanned by the Ad Standards Board.
Advertiser Global Herbal Products said two versions of the ad were made one featuring the text, “Vigor Tea. The Sexy Tea for 2” and second version that read, “Improve your sex life”. The advertiser said the second version of the ad was posted on buses on the Gold Coast before it was officially approved by Go Transit.
Among the complaints:
“I object and am offended because we see this bus while driving my kids to school. It’s wrong that my children are exposed to such disgust and we can’t even get away from it because it is stopped at a stoplight or we are having to sit behind it. Think about the discussions that we are FORCED to have due to this advertisement. Also if you go to their website, it is soft porn. I can imagine there are children that are interested in finding out what this product is and are exposed to soft porn after searching it on the internet. Just disgusting.”
The advertiser said the oversight was identified before the complaint was received and the ads had been returned to the original catchphrase ‘The Sexy Drink for Two”.
Although the board found the phrase relevant to the product, and determined it was not a strongly sexualised statement, they said ‘improve your sex life’ was a strong statement, and breached the code.
However both phrases were inappropriate for outdoor advertising, the board ruled.
“The image accompanied by the various words and other components of the advertisement created a more than mildly sexualized image. The Board noted the broad audience including children who would be exposed to the images on the buses. The Board considered that the advertisement did not treat sex, sexuality and nudity with sensitivity to the relevant audience and that it did breach Section 2.4 of the Code,” the ASB determined.
Both ads have been removed by the advertiser.
