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Wednesday, April 05, 2006

It's a fucking Vitara.I don't know where I'd be without my weekly e-mail from the ASA. It never fails to brighten me up on a Wednesday morning...

COMPLAINT:
A TV ad for Suzuki showed a series of people driving a Suzuki Vitara. A rock version of the song "What a Wonderful World" was playing in the background and the drivers were singing along.

Two viewers complained that the ad was offensive because they heard a man's voice at the end of the ad say "I fucking love you".

ADJUDICATION: Complaints upheld.

The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) said the version of the ad they cleared did not have any words at the end, only laughter. On learning of the complaints they liaised with the advertising agency (Nexus/H) who confirmed they had amended the audio in the ad after the BACC cleared it and had submitted it to stations with the same clearance number the BACC had originally provided. Nexus/H maintained the change had only been very slight; to "tidy it up" and ensure it matched the script. Nexus/H said that at no point did the ad include the word "fucking". They said the sound that viewers had interpreted as "fucking" was actually laughter which was being misheard.

Despite assertions that the word "fucking" was not used we considered the audio sounded like "I fucking love you" and had seriously offended a small number of viewers.


I so wish I'd paid more attention to that advert. Has anyone got it on video?

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