Big breasts politically incorrect

The following article appeared in the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" on Nov. 6th., 2005

A beer advertisement championing females with large breasts and a small behind has been slammed as portraying Australians as "a bunch of crude, sexist yobbos". The Foster's beer ad has been seen extensively throughout the Russian Federation. It depicts a bikini with a small top and a large bottom above the caption "the law of life". Below that is a bikini with a large top and a small bottom captioned "the law of Foster's".

The ad has prompted an angry response from Australian women. Women's Electoral Lobby Australia chairwoman Eva Cox said: "It is bloody stupid. "Why would they bother antagonising a whole pile of women who could drink Foster's? "Companies have got to get a bit smarter about this sort of stuff."

Federal Liberal MP Jackie Kelly had the offending ad translated to English after seeing it during a recent trip to Russia. Tabling a copy in Parliament, she also slammed Foster's. "This is our major internationally recognised brand name - and this ad was absolutely everywhere in Moscow," she said. I do not think Fosters would get away with an ad like that in Australia."

Complaints about advertisements in Australia are referred to the Advertising Standards Bureau. But the bureau has no jurisdiction to assess Australian ads running overseas. Australian Association of National Advertisers executive director Collin Segelov said the industry generally acted in good faith. He said complaints about overseas ads were only received "once every couple of years".

"Sometimes the target market requires a little bit of tweaking but the executions are generally those that they believe would pass the Advertising Standards Bureau," he said. Mr Segelov said complaints about Australian ads running overseas could be forwarded to advertising standards authorities in the host country. Foster's did not return calls.

Comments? Email John Ray

No comments:

Post a Comment

All comments containing Chinese characters will not be published as I do not understand them