VIP E-Cigarette ad 'likely to cause serious offence' banned before 11pm by ASA
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned Must Have’s ad for VIP Electronic Cigarettes before 11pm after receiving a series of complaints that totalled 1156.
Seven issues were investigated, including claims that the ads were overtly sexual in nature and degraded and exploited women, of which two were upheld.
The two TV ads which carried a post 9pm restriction and also appeared on the advertiser's YouTube channel, showed a man and woman speaking directly into the camera using language that complainants said drew oral sex references.
Some complainants said they understood an accompanying female voice-over saying, "If you're gonna Vape, Vape with VIP”, was used in a sexual context, to be wordplay on the term 'rape'.
438 Marketing Ltd, responding on behalf of Must Have Ltd trading as VIP Electronic Cigarettes, said it did not believe the ads were overly sexual. It pointed out that the actors were fully clothed and were “not located in a bedroom or boudoir”.
It added the use of a double entendre portrayed a “sexual situation” only to reveal that the scene was not what viewers expected, and acknowledged that the ads were suggestive, but said they were intended for adults aged 25 and over.
The ASA acknowledged the complainants' concerns that the presentation of the ads included implied references to oral sex. It noted the ads contained no explicit sexual imagery and concluded by revealing that the commentary related to an e-cigarette.
But it added: "We considered the sexually provocative presentation of the male and female characters in conjunction with a graphic description of oral sex was likely to cause serious and widespread offence to viewers who viewed (the television) ads during normal evening viewing.
"We acknowledged the post 9pm timing restriction would reduce the risk of younger children seeing (the television) ads, but because of the references to oral sex, we considered a post-9pm timing restriction was not sufficient to avoid offending viewers and that a post 11pm timing restriction should have been applied.”
The ASA agreed that the term "vape" related to the use of e-cigarettes and did not equate to wordplay on the word rape, therefore finding that the term was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.
The ASA ruled that the television ads must not be broadcast again before 11pm.