Pet shop advertisements ‘too naughty’
A Christchurch pet company’s edgy advertising has been banned from city buses.
Pet Central wanted to run ads to promote its three stores on the back of Christchurch’s buses but were told by Environment Canterbury (ECan) they were unacceptable because of their ‘‘sexual and drug implications’’.
One of the ads features a sketch of the cat tangled in a ball of wool alongside the words ‘‘Puss tangled? Grooming Supplies at Pet Central’’ while another has a sketch of a fish swimming through weeds next to the words ‘‘Fresh weed weekly. Get your oxygen weed at Pet Central’’.
Pet Central owner Linda Ashworth was shocked they were judged too naughty by ECan.
‘‘We have not spoken to any person who has taken offence at them,’’ she said.
ECan defended its decision not to allow the ads on the buses, saying it had to think about their impact on children.
‘‘Like everyone, we appreciate good humour. And of course we see the humour in these ads,’’ ECan’s public transport manager David Stenhouse said.
‘‘Individual bus companies usually make the decision on advertisements through their media agency. However, they come to us for a second opinion if they are unsure whether it is appropriate for the audience.
‘‘In this case, these ads are not appropriate for bus backs because of their sexual and drug implications. Our buses are publicly funded, and we believe we have a responsibility to the huge number of children who are exposed to bus advertising when they take or follow the buses,’’ Stenhouse said.
‘‘We have not been approached by Pet Central over these advertisements. Our contact was with the bus company and advertising agency.’’
Ashworth admitted the company pushed the boundaries with its advertising but did not believe it had over-stepped the mark.
‘‘We are a small company and we are trying to get an edge in the Christchurch market. We don’t have a lot of money. It’s just me. We wanted to have a bit of fun. We wanted people to see the ads and go wow, that’s cool what are they going to come with next, kind of like the Tui ads,’’ Ashworth said.
She had tried meet with ECan to discuss what they found offensive so she change the adverts, but had been refused.
‘‘I think whoever it is who made the decision thinks me and my creative lady are two young girls who are a highly sexed and smoke a lot of dope. If they saw us they would get quite a shock because we are in our 50s and prim and proper.’’
‘‘We’ve come to an absolute block wall, so we’ve had to put them on billboards which is not what we wanted to do. We wanted them on the back of the buses.’’
Marketing expert Dr Ekant Veer, from the University of Canterbury, said companies were having to push the boundaries with their advertising because it had become so difficult to gain people’s attention.
‘‘They think that by doing something that is sexually explicit in this way or something that is a bit edgy . . . they have a better chance of getting attention,’’ Veer said. ‘‘In this case I think they are going to take the high ground and say this is just PC gone mad.’’