Pot Noodle ad cleared of encouraging discrimination of transsexuals
A Pot Noodle television advert created for Unilever by Mother London has been cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority of encouraging discrimination of transsexuals and causing offense.
The ad in question depicted a male character, Brian, donning a variety of outfits whilst delivering a monologue to camera: “Ever since I was little I've always dreamed of living an easy life. So, I married a footballer. I've been a WAG for 2 years now. I'm a real lady of leisure. I've even got my own fragrance. The scent's inspired by my greatest love, it's hot like a fever, spicy like chilli, divine like chicken. Piri Piri by Brian."
Unilever attested that this was an attempt at instilling a cheeky and humorous tone for the brand by caricaturing the WAG lifestyle and in no way condoned or encouraged discriminatory behaviour towards transsexual people.
In its assessment the ASA noted: “The ad identified the character as Brian and depicted Brian with masculine features, including visible stubble, a masculine voice and body type. In that context, we considered the ad made clear that Brian was a self-identifying man who sought an easy life that could be achieved through the lifestyle of a WAG.
“As such, we considered viewers were likely to interpret the portrayal as a light-hearted mockery of WAG culture rather than transsexual people. Whilst we acknowledged that some may find the ad distasteful, we considered it was not likely to cause serious or widespread offence, or condone and encourage harmful and discriminatory behaviour and treatment towards transsexual people.”