Shane Warne battery ad is too ‘ridiculous’ to be taken seriously rules ad watchdog
A complaint that cricket legend Shane Warnes’ ad for a battery company was “semi-pornographic” has been dismissed by the Ad Standards Board because it was too “farcical” to be overtly sexual.
The ad for Marshall Batteries sees Warne caught in an awkward situation with a neighbour’s wife and having to recruite the speedy services of Marshall Batteries in order to escape an angry husband.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVW0RuxYjFc
Complaints against the ad cited Warne’s “less than desirable” off-field exploits and argued “marriages are under enough pressure in this country without the assistance of this ad”.
“Consider someone who is or has been through an unfaithful relationship. I imagine this would bring a lot of stress/pain/anger when they see this on screen and how it is shown as a great joke. I find this very confronting and uncomfortable to watch. I also believe that this should be taken off air as it is indecent and somewhat semi-pornographic,” the complaint read.
Marshall Batteries defended the spot saying it was “created with a strong comedic tone”.
“It is our position that, and noting the comedic nature of it, there is nothing in the advertisement that would cause serious widespread offence and meets social responsibility,” the battery company said.
Marshall Batteries also cited a second ad which shows how the situation eventuated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxG1VYxnqlw
The Ad Standards Board dismissed the complaints ruling “the ridiculous nature” of the ad did not “amount to a depiction that is overtly sexual”.
Miranda Ward
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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Kitch. But entertaining. Would watch and would remember the brand.
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Good grief! Another one. Are we turning into a nation of complainers?
At least the Ad Standards Board had the commonsense to dismiss this one (and commonsense is rare on that board).
I’m thinking that maybe there should be a $100 fee attached to lodging a complaint, refunded ONLY if the ASB uphold it. Maybe then the do-gooding, easily hurt and thin-skinned brigade might think twice.
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I am not judging moral decency here, simply assessing the work.
Two problems. One is the isolation factor, if one sees only the first ad, then the message is incongruous and deliberately leads the viewer to assume there is mutual sexual activity.
When explained in the second ad, there are two problems, one technical, and one inherent. First problem is that there are enough loose frames at the head of long shot of the couple, to catch Warne smiling at the woman, before he displays a reaction of horror.
The second is that the whole thing was perfectly explainable, since there is a kid over the fence with a bat, a fully clothed couple and a loose cricket ball, so why run away?
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I have watched and will avoid the brand. As for Warney: what a [Edited by Mumbrella] for stooping so low. Oh wait….
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Looks like Warne was trying to bowl a maiden over…
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Nice spin
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Just as well he had his seatbelt on and was not on the road using his phone!!
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