A VODAFONE AD about a picnic has been found to be in breach advertising guidelines because it made light of a “very dangerous situation”.
People who complained about the television ad said that it didn’t acknowledge that bulls are “very dangerous animals”.
The ad in question features a couple hopping over a fence into a field to have a picnic before they are confronted by a bull.
While the man in the ad attempts to search on his phone for information on ‘how to calm a bull?’, the woman plays a video of a dog on her phone and the bull calmly walks away.
Text then appears on-screen in the ad saying: “Only Vodafone 4G covers 90% of people in every county”.
The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland said it had received four complaints over the ad:
The complainants said that to infer that a bull would just walk away on seeing a dog barking on a mobile phone was ridiculous and one complainant said that it would take more than this action to deter an agitated bull and the appropriate action would be for those concerned to have exited the field as soon as possible.
Another complainant also noted that the couple appeared to be ‘trespassing’ on the land and that the ad created the impression that it was acceptable to do so.
Another complainant who had been attacked by a bull in the past described the ad as “disgraceful”.
In its response, Vodafone said that the ad was intended to be humourous and that they “had never sought to encourage people to knowingly climb into fields containing livestock.”
The company also noted that the ad is no longer being shown on television.
In its decision, the ASAI said that while Vodafone may not have intended to “condone dangerous behaviour”, it was “irresponsible” to use the scene for dramatic effect and as a result it breached advertising guidelines.
It recommended that the ad continue to be off air in its current format.
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