Woman elbowing snoring husband was domestic violence, says Ad Standards Board

The Advertising Standards Board has upheld a complaint that an ad for a sleep clinic depicted scenes of domestic violence, by showing a woman repeatedly hitting her partner in reaction to his snoring.

An excerpt of the complainant’s comments about the ad for Sleep Clinics Albury and Wodonga said: “In these sensitive times, I find this offensive as the woman’s behaviour demeans, humiliates, embarrasses and physically abuses her partner. Had the roles been portrayed in reverse, where the woman had sleep issues and the man elbows his partner and gets pushed out of bed, there would have been an out cry over violence against women.”

The ads cuts between different scenes of the man snoring whilst asleep and his partner’s reaction. When he dozes off in a cinema the woman elbows the man in the ribs, and at home she pushes him out of bed resulting in him hitting his head on the floor.

Be a member to keep reading

Join Mumbrella Pro to access the Mumbrella archive and read our premium analysis of everything under the media and marketing umbrella.

Become a member

Get the latest media and marketing industry news (and views) direct to your inbox.

Sign up to the free Mumbrella newsletter now.

"*" indicates required fields

 

SUBSCRIBE

Sign up to our free daily update to get the latest in media and marketing.