Wood Trade Marks and Design Limited

Adverts should be fair and should not cause offence to public feeling.   The association representing black cab drivers have been rapped on the knuckles for two recent adverts which suggested that non-members (i.e. all taxi drivers that are not black cabbies) and foreign taxi drivers were unreliable, incompetant and underhand.

Here’s the transcript of one advert (courtesy of the ASA):

“One radio ad, broadcast on LBC, featured a man in the back of a cab, with a driver who appeared to be of Eastern European descent. A sat-nav system was heard saying “If possible please make a U-Turn”. The passenger then said “Hey, you told me that you knew the way!” and the driver responded “Don’t blame me Mister, blame the sat-nav. I haven’t done the Knowledge … Don’t worry Mister, I’ll get there. Eventually”. The passenger said “But I am going to miss my job interview!” and the driver replied “No worries, I can get you a job at my firm. You got your own sat-nav?” A voice-over then stated “Don’t take a chance with your future. Take a tip from the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association. The LTDA. Next time use a real cab”

The association said that it believed that listeners would understand the message that people should not use unlicensed cabs, but the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) noted that the advert made a point of the fact that the incompetant cab driver in the advert had not done “the knowledge”, something that black cab drivers do but other cab drivers do not.  It was possible to be a licensed cab driver without doing “the knowledge”.

The ASA also noted that although short radio adverts often use stereotypes to establish characters, these should not perpetuate misconceptions or prejudices.  The took the view that they had done so in these adverts.

The message is pretty simple – don’t perpetuate sterotypes that are damaging, and be careful what comparisons you make.  It follows on from a decision earlier in the year where Reed were deemed by the ASA to have breached advertising rules by having a tyrannical boss character with a strong German accent.

Humour often revolves around stereotypes – more often than not, the difficulties between two people, or an unexpected outcome. Where do you draw the line, however, between humour on the basis of race or nationality on the one hand and derogatory treatment and the perpetuation of damaging stereotypes on the other? Is there one?

Reed Online created an advert which used a character speaking to his boss, who responded angrily and in German. A voice-over said “Boss a bit of a tyrant?..” 13 members of the public complained that the advert was offensive to Germans, and the Advertising Standards Authority agreed, ruling that the advert should not be broadcast again. They felt that it “reinforced a negative and outdated cultural stereotype of German people as overpowering and tyrannical”. On that basis they thought it had the potential to cause serious offence to some.  The unfortunate background was that the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre had approved the advert, saying that the advert was likely to be seen as humorous by most. Reed would have thought the advert would be fine on that basis.

The rule of thumb for advertisers would appear to be that the number of people offended must be balanced against the level of offence which could be caused. In the case of religious or political subjects, and the depiction of people with disabilities, particular care is required. It appears to me that there is some discrepancy between the treatment of advertisers and some TV shows – one wonders why programmes such as Fonejacker are able to perpetuate stereotypes about a wide variety of races in the name of comedy.

Each Wednesday the UK Advertising Standards Authority publishes its latest decisions.  One decision caught my eye:

MARTINI STAY BEAUTIFUL was used to highlight a promotional event at a bar where guests could try the new MARTINI ROSATO drink and sample beauty products.  The ASA held that the advert suggested that MARTINI (and alcohol in general) aided attractiveness… hmm not sure about that one…