Contradiction

The banning of this advert on the basis of three complaints, has been so widely reported that I couldn’t think of anything further to add. It is of course, nannying at its most extreme and has the added annoyance of shutting down an attempt to revive a historic slogan. The ASA’s action has broken another small and fragile link with the past.

It was only when I realized that the basis of the ban was that the advert:

was likely to be understood by consumers to carry the clear implication that the beer would give the man enough confidence to tell the woman that the dress was unflattering

that I began to wonder. Has no one at the ASA seen this ?

..which was widely screened by the ‘Know Your Limits’ campaign from the NHS. The clear implication is that alcohol has made the man confident. In this case, confident of his ability to do backflips on wibbly wobbly scaffolding.

They can’t both be right can they ?

Since one of them is clearly wrong, and we live in straitened times, I’m going to suggest that one of these two groups be shut down. The envelope please……

…and the winner is the ‘Know Your Limits’ campaign. Although the ASA are idiots and ought to take common sense into account, Know your Limits is wildly expensive, and they are the minds behind the alcohol units campaign, which is in turn based on the flimsiest of evidence.