Thirsty Camel ‘hump’ video banned by ASB
The online video component of the ‘hump’ campaign for Thirsty Camel Bottleshops, launched in March by Melbourne agency Twenty20, has been banned by the Advertising Standards Bureau.
The ASB ruled that the video encourages the vandalism of road safety signs and other public property, which could have serious safety implications.
Complaints made by the public included: “It is vandalism and should not be shown as it implies that it is ok to stick such signs on important signs. I believe it is glorifying graffiti which is a public nuisance and against the law.” Another read: “I studied advertising and I reckon the ad agency who made this wanted to make an ad that pushed the boundaries.”
Fysh Rutherford, creative director at Twenty20, rejected the ruling. He said: “It seems to me that rather than reinforcing social values, the ASB are dabbling in social engineering. They’re not reflecting community attitudes, they’re trying to shape them with their moral judgements.”
“The ABS would like us to stop thinking, to stop doing certain things, in case we might influence society. Do we really believe that people watching this ad will be compelled to commit acts of violence and vandalism? Of course not. The ad’s not exploiting society in any way.”
However, Rutherford admitted that a street artist had responded to the Think Camel campaign by plastering Thirsty Camel stores with stickers carrying his tag. “I think he thought we were commercialising his world of art, and he wanted to tell us what he thought about it. But I see that as his right to do so.”
Twenty20 and Thirsty Camel have responded to the ban by creating a pastiche of their own ad, with hump signs placed over the original hump signs, to further the debate about censorship and freedom of expression on Thirsty Camel’s Facebook page.
Complaints were also made to the ASB about a poster and a billboard from the Think Camel campaign for making vulgar sexual references.
The billboard featured a parking sign with the words Casual Parking, with the word park replaced by the word hump. The same concept was applied to a poster featuring a Give Way sign. Both complaints were dismissed by the ASB.
I think it was designed to spread virally by gently pushing boundaries – bad enough to get banned but not bad enough to get hated….it’s the perfect mix for a viral video and it’s well done. Is it offensive/law breaking/crass commercialism – yeah, a little, but that’s what makes a video go viral, so I guess that’s a reflection on society more than the brand.
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No, it wasn’t designed to do anything. It was lazily ripped off.
Here’s the “inspiration” http://www.fuckthiswebsite.com/
Agency and client should be shamed to the stone age.
Someone needs to be made an example of soon to help restore some faith in the industry.
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Regardless of it being ripped off or offensive, it should be banned for being plain crap.
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Lucky the ASB is there to prevent me from mindlessly aping what I see on television. That reminds me, I need to go out right now and purchase everything I just saw advertised over the last hour.
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The billboard featured a parking sign with the words Casual Parking, with the word casual replaced by the word hump.
What’s funny about hump parking?
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My initial reaction was that it was a very sneaky ad for camel cigarettes. Then i realised it was just lazy advertising for a booze shop.
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Perhaps the whole purpose of the campaign was to generate publicity?
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