Cheeky Richmond ham ad banned
Richmond ham has been ordered to cease broadcast of a controversial meat advert after a total of 371 complaints were received from viewers perturbed by the sight of a naked man baring his bum.
Intended to position the meat treat as having ‘nothing to hide’ with ‘all natural ingredients’ the commercial fell foul of the Advertising Standards Authority ironically not for the abundance of meat on display, but rather the geographical location of its origin.
Described as ‘Britain’s only ham…’ despite being produced in Ireland the promotion raised hackles amongst those who felt this implied the product was British.
Defending their use of the phrase brand owner Kerry Foods stated that the claim centred on the availability of the product, not its provenance.
In their declaration however the ASA decreed: “Whilst we accepted the ad did not refer directly to the provenance of the product, we considered that describing the product as ‘Britain's only ham ...’ was likely to be interpreted by consumers as meaning the product was British in origin, when in fact that was not the case.
“We therefore concluded that the claim was misleading.”
The ad cannot be broadcast again in its current form.