ASA Adjudication on HomePride Ltd

Ad

A TV ad, for an oven cleaner, included a voice-over that stated "so easy, even a man can do it". A man was shown raising his eyebrows and making childlike facial expressions whilst a pregnant woman, who appeared cross, stood beside him holding the product. The voice-over described how easy the product was to use and the man was then shown to use it with exaggerated delight whilst being watched by the disapproving woman. The ad ended with the voice-over stating “… let Oven Pride do its thing so he can do more”. The man looked aghast at this thought while the woman smiled. The voice-over repeated "so easy, even a man can do it". Text on screen at the end of the ad stated "Note: no men were harmed during the making of this commercial".

Issue

1. Most complainants considered that the ad suggested that men were stupid and lazy.  They therefore complained that the ad was sexist and offensive.

2. Other complainants considered that the ad suggested that cleaning was generally a woman's job.  They therefore complained that the ad was offensive and demeaning to women.

BCAP TV Code

Response

1. & 2. Homepride Ltd (Homepride) said the ad was intended to raise awareness of the product using tongue-in-cheek humour.  They said it was not unreasonable to use humour in advertising to play on natural gender differences. They did not intend to cause offence and the large increase in sales they had experienced led them to conclude that any offence caused had not been widespread because consumers would otherwise not have bought the product.  The number of complaints received was small compared with the approximately 27 million viewers who had seen it; they had also received positive feedback from consumers who felt the ad was fun and entertaining.     

Clearcast said the ad was approved because it was clearly pantomime, slapstick and very silly.  The man acted helpless and silly; that was his way of cleverly trying to get out of doing a nasty job.  The woman had had enough and watched over him while he completed the task.  The story ended well because she had found a mess free method of oven cleaning and the man therefore performed the task happily; she was pleased that he had done so.  They did not believe that the ad was offensive.

Assessment

1. & 2. Not upheld

The ASA considered that the scenario of a man who did not enjoy cleaning the oven being "forced" to do so by his disapproving wife was portrayed in a manner that was likely to be seen by the majority of viewers as light hearted and comical. The mans behaviour in particular and the "disclaimer" at the end of the ad were clearly intended to be over the top and humorous and both characters childlike behaviour appeared incredulous.

We noted that the ad used mild humour to refer to traditional gender stereotypes but considered that the overall impression was such that it did not portray either gender in a way that stigmatised, humiliated or undermined them by using harmful stereotypes.  We noted some might consider the humour in the ad in poor taste but concluded that it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 6.1 (Offence) and 6.6 (Harmful or negative stereotypes) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)