Telstra ad hit with complaint alleging sex and nudity breach
An animated Telstra commercial featuring two kangaroos and a snowman has received an Ad Standards complaint alleging it breaches sex and nudity rules.
The advertisement is for Telstra’s mobile network in Mt Buller, and depicts two animated kangaroos building a snowman.
According to a description from Ad Standards: “The young kangaroo puts a carrot on the snowman in the genital area. The older kangaroo says ‘oop huh’ and moves the carrot to the nose position.”
The complaint made about the commercial claims it features, “inappropriate content and placement insinuating a penis as a carrot” and therefore breaches section 2.4 – Sex, Sexuality and Nudity of the Code.
Telstra rejected the complaint in a detailed rebuttal to Ad Standards, which noted: “There is nothing that suggests the capacity to experience and express sexual desire. There is no suggestion the snowman is sentient or that the carrot is placed in a sexual region to indicate a response to some sexual external stimulus.
“Further, concluding that the use of a carrot is as a proxy for an erect penis and suggesting of sexual desire would be unreasonable. A carrot is inherently firm with a generally straight, cylindrical shape. It is also commonly used as a nose on a snowman, as the advertisement finally shows.”
On the nudity breach, the telco points out: “The advertisement does not contain humans or live creatures, and neither snowmen nor Kangaroos ordinarily ‘wear clothes’ such that either of their appearances are ‘nude.’”
Ad Standards agreed, rejecting the complaint, finding “the advertisement contained mild sexual innuendo relating to the placement of the carrot. The Panel considered that the advertisement was lighthearted and humorous and the mild innuendo was not inappropriate for the relevant broad audience.”
Mumbrella has contacted Telstra for further comment.
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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People really have nothing to do if they are up in arms about it this..
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Personally, I don’t particularly like the ad or the campaign, but it’s about time that the average person also has a chance to have their say about ads that the whingers decry publicly.
Bugger. Bum. Pooh. They will probably complain about my comment now.
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People really have nothing to do if they are up in arms about it this…
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Whoever complained about this needs to take a good hard look at themselves. Fairweather or what
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Shame on you, kangaroo..
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Oh please! Talk about over-thinking. Chill out.
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I’m dead inside.
“use of a carrot is as a proxy for an erect penis and suggesting of sexual desire would be unreasonable”
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Jay’s Comment:
Please use – damn, backside, mess, instead.
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Maybe someone at Optus is trying to find reasons to mess with the big T.
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Creatives making anonymous complaints about their own work… we’ve all been there
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Is this what Australia has become,
In my opinion that spurious time waisting allegation against the ad reflects that there are misguided people given far too much media and air time.
The worst part is my tax dollars have paid people to investigate this.
Perhaps they should have checked out the person who made the complaint and there affiliations.
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please a bit lower as it seems to me to be positioned more in the umbilical area
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