Flora stands by 'The Wrestlers' as a 'light-hearted take on family life' despite ASA complaints
Flora has said “sorry to those who didn’t enjoy” its ad ‘The Wrestlers’ after the ASA received over 500 complaints about it.
The ASA revealed to The Drum that the general nature of the 504 complaints (as at Monday 18 November) it received were about the ad being ‘offensive,’ ‘irresponsible,’ and ‘unsuitable for children.’
The ad, narrated by a young child named Josh, explains how he and his brother made breakfast to surprise their parents on their “anninversary” using “lots of tasty Flora Buttery” only to find their parents awake when delivering the surprise to their room. Upon entering the room the voice over says “mummy won’t let us watch wrestling on the TV, but she seemed quite good at it with daddy.”
Despite the complaints the ASA has decided not to investigate the ad further given that it has an ‘ex-kids’ restriction, which means it cannot be broadcast around programmes that have a particular appeal to under 16s.
A spokesperson for Flora’s parent company Unilever told The Drum: “For 50 years, Flora has been an everyday family favourite, and we created this advert as a light-hearted take on family life. Feedback from our consumers showed that the vast majority loved the advert and found it entertaining. We’re sorry to those who didn’t enjoy it.”
The ASA added that as the ad was “unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence” and that it was happy with the ‘ex-kids’ restriction applied.
The ad is part of a series by Flora celebrating the mishaps of family life, ‘The Wrestlers’, which debuted in September, has since been followed up with a new creative entitled ‘Mrs Snootypants’ starring the same cartoon family.