back to article UK regulator set to ban ads depicting bumbling manchildren

Ads depicting manchildren incapable of carrying out basic household tasks, and women in the role of Stepford Wives clearing up their mess, are to be banned in a crackdown by the Advertising Standards Authority. It follows a review conducted by the watchdog following the public's reaction to the "beach body ready" advertising …

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          1. DropBear
            Meh

            Re: This is a good thing

            "because iffy/bad stuff has made it's way into _most_ products"

            ...sodium chloride (have you got any idea how viciously reactive both of those are?!?), ascorbic acid, dihydrogen monoxide, and the list goes on and on...

        1. Wulfhaven

          Re: This is a good thing

          I actually found such a product line in my native country. White packaging with blue text though. No fancy pictures, colors or any of that shit. There is a stylised 0% on all the packaging, since it's also void of perfume and other weird shit that seems to be popular in various cleaning agents.

          It says Shampoo, Conditioner, Soap, or whatever washing or cleaning the product is supposed to do.

          And the brand is called "neutral", and is also entirely free from perfume, which is also nice.

          http://www.neutral.se, doesn't seem to have an english page though.

      1. Teiwaz

        Re: This is a good thing

        (washing powder, fabric conditioner etc.) that was targeted at the increasing numbers of men - this involved both packaging changes and in the case of fabric conditioner - fragrance changes...

        So I can look forward to 'new car smell' for fabric softener* then?

        * Not that I ever buy fabric softener - my brother asked for some when he was visiting once and I asked him if he was a poof (yeah, it was a joke) - I'm single and just too cheap and minimalist to bother...

        I'm not sure this type of offensive on maybe offensive stereotypes/archetypes is really helpful - we'll probably end up with even more dull corporate PC ads than we already have - the main issue is that advert makers are a tired and worn out lot of worn-path treading hacks that really couldn't be creative even if you put them on a high dosage of hallucinogens.

        Better to apply strict entertainment standards to ads - if it's not creative enough - ban it...

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Re: This is a good thing

          " Not that I ever buy fabric softener "

          I take it you like hard and rough towels or never dry the washing outside on a washing line. Using an electric clothes dryer can negate the need for softener, but at a cost.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: This is a good thing

            A bad example, I think - using fabric softener on towels is not a good thing:

            http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/cleaning/tips/a19506/fabric-softener-cleaning-product/

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: This is a good thing

              It never occurs to people that coating an absorbent material with a water repelling surfactant will stop it being absorbent.

              My SOH does it all the sodding time.

          2. nijam Silver badge

            Re: This is a good thing

            > Using an electric clothes dryer can negate the need for softener, but at a cost.

            The electricity involved costs less than the conditioner, I calculate. Obviously there's a capital cost for the drier itself to consider, but then there are other benefits to weigh against that.

    1. Justin Case

      Re: This is a good thing

      Little by little, bit by bit. Something is being taken away from us.

      At one time the stated role of the ASA was to ensure that adverts were "legal decent honest and truthful". Now, it seems, they wish to control both the message and its manner of delivery so that their social engineering ambitions will be fulfilled.

      If my mind has to be raped then I'd rather it was done by voracious capitalists - I know what their agenda is - to screw as much money out of me as possible. I know it, they know it. But this insidious abuse of power just makes me want to puke.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: This is a good thing

        "At one time the stated role of the ASA was to ensure that adverts were "legal decent honest and truthful". Now, it seems, they wish to control both the message and its manner of delivery so that their social engineering ambitions will be fulfilled."

        That's because that nice wide and grey line drawn by "legal decent honest and truthful" has been so sorely abused by the advertising industry pushing the boundaries as far as possible, like a child experimenting with what is and isn't allowed. They are supposed to be adults working within the spirit of the law, not unthinking toddlers trying it on.

        TL;DR. Are you defending the advertising industry? Really? #sad LOL

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: This is a good thing

          No one is saying the advertising agency is blameless. They are saying that this extends the power of the state to make moral judgements that it is not competent to make.

          its a bait and switch. They are talking about women doing housework. The next thing will be intelligent people teaching, Dogs fetching balls. heterosexual people enjoying each others company.

          Then before you know where you are it will becomes strangely selective. Party political adverts featuring certain politicians who resemble stereotypes will banned on the grounds that they resemble stereotypes.

          Finally whatever they decide is the old stereotype, will vanish, and what will be left will be a new stereotype.

          Mind control masquerading as public good.

      2. nijam Silver badge

        Re: This is a good thing

        > At one time the stated role of the ASA was to ensure that adverts were "legal decent honest and truthful"

        And, as of this latest announcement, the ASA itself isn't being "honest and truthful".

    2. Oh Homer
      Big Brother

      Enough "PC", already!

      No, seriously. Enough!

      Yes, I understand that bigotry starts with the prevailing culture of "isms", that are most prominently disseminated by various entertainment mediums and their associated advertising, but on the other hand if you're the sort of person who actually needs some fucking regulator to tell you not to take the aforementioned fiction literally, then you seriously need to be nominated for the next round of Darwin Awards, because your DNA is dragging the rest of us down.

      1. robin thakur 1

        Re: Enough "PC", already!

        I completely agree. I find the affirmative action taking place at the moment (because that is what it most closely resembles) with respect to diversity, trans rights and women's equality, have come to dominate all spheres of life and particularly the news. Every other story on the BBC et al is about women being seemingly disadvantaged or outraged at something, students protesting sombreros on campus, trans people's journeys to becoming accepted or gay rights (I belong to this group but even I find the constant stream of mainstream news about it slightly tiresome). For people living outside the metropolitan areas which normalize such thinking, this cacophony of urban grief and twitter character assassination seems utterly alien, selective and off-putting.

        Yes these things are of slight importance, but this culture of blame, entitlement, victimhood and needing to constantly share everything with everybody for validation is actually starting to change human civilization and development...and not for the better.

        The 'beach-body ready' advert wasn't particularly offensive, any more than Calvin Klein men's underwear adverts and Vogue are. There's nothing wrong with having a body image to aspire to, in fact this has been the case since Ancient Greece, and the only difference here was that it targeted women with a very large picture of the model and many chose to get offended on behalf of women. Some people can achieve the look through genetics/training and some won't. Some people are "pretty/handsome" in society's view and some aren't. Some simply are simply feeble-minded mouth breathers. There's no point complaining that advertising companies don't hire a plus size or obese model to advertise an aspirational slimming plan, because it wouldn't sell well and the agency would get fired.

        Nothing is stopping you going to the beach if you are of the larger disposition, just don't be surprised if Greenpeace show up and start throwing buckets of water over you and trying to roll you back into the water.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: This is a good thing

      I assume you havent read 1984 then?

    4. ttGuy
      FAIL

      Re: This is a good thing

      I just barfed into my free range Peruvian corn free gluten free cornflakes with dairy, soy and almond free milk*.

      Are you for real?

      *A bowl of air

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: This is a good thing

      SO, you're for Big Brother forcing it on us and them, instead of letting the market settle it...

      I hate marketers but when will you people stop giving the Gov license to tell us what we should think?

      If you don't like the advert say it to the manufacturer.

      That Body ready Advert sold a lot of memberships to men AND Women who loved it.

      Didn't like it? think it's wrong? SJW that will get mommy and daddy to fix it for you?

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    That's a start

    Now make it so vacuum cleaner adverts must accurately portray the sound they make.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: That's a start

      Do I need to do the Microsoft vacuum cleaner joke?

      1. Korev Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: That's a start

        No, because it sucks

        1. kmac499

          Re: That's a start

          Honest advertising..

          Looking forward to see whether it's Mum or Dad who can put the biggest skidmark on an Andrex puppy...

    2. Adam 1

      Re: That's a start

      Vacuum cleaner ads are awesome. I'm sorry, but if you start messing around with those then how will I know which one is most appropriate to help me sort through my bowling ball collection?

  2. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    The only downside...

    ...is that we might get more ridiculous 'quota families' portrayed in adverts.

    It doesn't have to be that way but the advertising industry does seem at times to lack the creativity it likes to credit itself with.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The only downside...

      You mean an Asian dad, Latina mum, and two children, one from Africa and the other an Australian aboriginal?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The only downside...

        Of course not. Where's the single parent in this would-be minorityfest?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: The only downside...

          The asian dad and latina mum are the same gender (and race) fluid person, obviously, you facist.

  3. Cronus

    About bloody time. That is all.

  4. Bernard M. Orwell
    Megaphone

    About bloody time too!

    I've been harping on about this for years and years. Now, let's take the next step and deal with the same problem in childrens television programming where it goes without saying that men/fathers are always shown as stupid, incompetent comic figures whilst women/mothers are wise, always right and competent at everything.

    Pepper Pig, I'm looking at your producers.

    1. pleb

      Pepper Pig? I guess you must be one of those out-of-touch dads who doesn't quite follow what his children are watching?

      1. Bernard M. Orwell
        Happy

        I'll admit, there are some things my daughter watches that will put me to sleep in a heartbeat, but Pepper Pig was a staple in our house for many years. The trauma has stuck with me.

        It also taught my daughter to expect me to be a stupid bumbling fool and my wife to be the decision maker in all things.... ....more than usual, that is.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          @Bernard

          What are your thought on muddy puddles though?

      2. caffeine addict

        Pepper Pig? I guess you must be one of those out-of-touch dads who doesn't quite follow what his children are watching?

        Not sure why that's getting downvotes. Seemed ElReg worthy levels of sarcasm about how dads are viewed as not knowing what kids are doing. Unless it's a non-sarcastic dig that it's "Peppa Pig", of course. :/

        ( I'm depressed that I know that considering I'm 41 and don't have kids... )

        1. pleb

          You win the prize. It was the Peppa/Pepper Pig thing. It doesn't stand up as a typo, so I was just speculating. And a little tilt at those who think we should not recognise ourselves in popular stereotypes.

        2. Bernard M. Orwell
          Joke

          "Unless it's a non-sarcastic dig that it's "Peppa Pig", of course"

          Great... now it's making them illiterate too.

    2. Baldrickk

      All I know, and all I want to know about that pig is that my brother refuses to let either of his kids watch it.

      Percy Pigs, on the other hand, are delicious gummy sweets, and are by far and away M&S's single most popular product.

    3. MonkeyCee

      Bob the slacker

      How about Bob the builder then? Since it would more accurately be called "Wendy the Builder, Bob the Bellend Boss" since Bob is always fucking things up, and Wendy is always making things right. Hell, she even gets asked to fix the yard man's printer, although I strongly suspect that was a euphemism :)

  5. theExecutive

    Vagisil

    We all want it!

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: Vagisil

      Let's talk frankly about vaginal dryness.

      No, let's not. Take it to the GP or something.

      Mind you... seeing that advert go back to back with one for Tena Lady.

      1. Korev Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: Vagisil

        "Mind you... seeing that advert go back to back with one for Tena Lady."

        you mean the lady on the new ten pound note?

        1. TRT Silver badge

          Re: Vagisil

          Oh yes! That's out today. Does anyone know what flavour this one is? The beef ones were delicious.

          1. A K Stiles
            Coat

            Re: Vagisil

            Think these ones are also beef flavour - brown beef rather than blue beef though. It's the new twenties that are going to be Orangutan flavoured (or something)

            1. TRT Silver badge

              Re: Vagisil

              They should bring back the one pound note, and make it Solent Green flavour.

              1. This post has been deleted by its author

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    Will they also ban ads...

    That lead me to believe I will suddenly be attractive to thousands of women once I spray their crap on my body ?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Will they also ban ads...

      Erm... what is the best way to read your sentence, pray tell?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Will they also ban ads...

      Covering yourself in crap makes you attractive to a VERY niche demographic.

      1. Korev Silver badge
        Joke

        Re: Will they also ban ads...

        Yep, I think they'd bug him a lot

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Will they also ban ads...

        Germans, or so I've heard.

    3. John 110
      Boffin

      Re: Will they also ban ads...

      There's evidence to suggest that humans are attracted to things that smell like themselves, so spraying their crap on your body might be a great way to attract a woman.

      Might be quite specific though.

      And there is the problem of the VERY niche demographic mentioned elsewhere

    4. Teiwaz

      Re: Will they also ban ads...

      That lead me to believe I will suddenly be attractive to thousands of women once I spray their crap on my body ?

      I was kind of wondering where you'd get thousands of womens crap - do you work in a sewage processing plant? What for anyway? Is it some sort of scent camoflage so you can creep about while they're undressing and they don't notice you?

  7. Kevin Johnston

    Bad move

    This is far too complex a decision and allows more loopholes than it closes. The actual decision they should have made was to ban adverts that...

    is all

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