Tesco in hot water over ‘offensive’ food mobile phone ads

ADVERTS for Tesco Mobile have been banned for replacing expletives with food names.

The national newspaper ads, Twitter post and outdoor posters used the words “shiitake”, “pistachio” and “fettucine” as allusions to swear words in ways that “were likely to cause serious and widespread offence”, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled.

Full-page newspaper ads featured the line “They’re taking the pistachio” in large text, followed by an image of a nut.

The ASA received 52 complaints that the ads were offensive.

Some complainants challenged whether the ads were appropriate for display where they could be seen by children.

Tesco Mobile said it had not used any offensive words or imagery and, as such, believed the ads were unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.

The ASA said the words alluded to were “so likely to offend that they should not generally be used or alluded to in advertising, regardless of whether they were used in a tongue-incheek manner”.

The ASA said it was also likely that parents would want their children to avoid these expletives, or obvious allusions to them. It ruled that the ads must not appear again.

A Tesco Mobile spokeswoman said: “We’re really sorry for any offence caused. We know the frustration that consumers face when they notice their mobile phone bill has gone up mid-contract and we were reflecting their frustration - and ours - in these ads.

“We’re proud to offer our mobile customers supermarket value, and so we used a play on words relating to food products.”