Tunnock’s served advert ban after poster deemed to objectify women
● Watchdog upheld complaint that ad was likely to cause offence
An advert featuring a female tennis player holding a Tunnock’s tea cake in place of a tennis ball at the top of her thigh has been banned over the likelihood of it causing serious offence.
The poster advert, seen on 6 November, showed the player with her skirt raised at the hip and included the text “where do you keep yours?” and “serve up a treat”.
One person complained the ad was offensive and irresponsible because it was sexist and objectified women.
Thomas Tunnock Ltd, trading as Tunnock’s Tea Cakes, said the ad appeared on a poster site adjacent to the SEC Hydro Arena in Glasgow to coincide with a charity tennis match and was created with a tennis audience in mind.
They said the placement of the tea cake was a substitute to the normal placement of tennis balls, adding they did not intend to offend anyone.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) noted the ad showed the woman’s bare thigh exposed and her underwear clearly visible and while it was placed opposite an arena hosting a tennis match, it bore no relevance to the advertised product.
The ASA said: “We considered that although the image was only mildly sexual in nature, when combined with the phrase ‘serve up a treat’ it had the effect of objectifying women by using a woman’s physical features to draw attention to the ad.
“In light of those factors, we concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious offence to some consumers and was socially irresponsible.”
Tunnock’sisamongscotland most identifiable food brands. The family baker is based in Uddingston and is one of the 20 oldest family firms in Scotland still in operation.
The Tunnock’s teacake and caramel wafer are among the baker’s most popular products.
Meanwhile, an advert for a men’s fragrance was cleared despite the ASA receiving 120 complaints that it objectified the male model and depicted women as powerless and weak.
The TV and video-ondemand ads for Paco Rabanne XS seen in July and August showed women peering through a one-way mirror at a man in a bathroom as he removed his clothes, cheering and finally fainting and collapsing.
The ASA said a number of the 120 complainants believed the ads were sexist and objectified the man. Some thought the ads were sexist because the women were depicted as powerless and weak and therefore reinforced stereotypes.
Puig, trading as Paco Rabanne, said the main male character was aware of the attention he was getting and playing up to it, and was therefore not a victim, while the female characters were all shown to act within their own control.