NO sex please, we are watching our soapies.
This is the message that reached the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) as viewers complained about four suggestive television advertisements.
Two ads were for condoms and massage lotion.
The bulk of objections were from afternoon soapie viewers who objected to being bombarded by ads with sexual imagery while getting their daily dose of drama.
Three of the complaints were dismissed by the ASA while the fourth was settled when the SABC admitted it had accidentally aired a very naughty ad during the daytime.
In one case, consumers complained about an ad for Calvin Klein’s new fragrance, CK One Shock, which showed images depicting young people dancing, kissing and embracing.
Viewers complained that the commercial showed people "dirty dancing ... undressing each other ... looking like they are drunk and about to engage in intercourse”.
The ASA directorate, however, noted in its ruling: "While the commercial features a few sexy scenes, involving kissing and holding each other, it cannot be said to be harmful to young people, and does not appear to represent ‘drunk’ people who are about to have sex as alleged by the complainant.”
The directorate added that the ad was flighted during an episode of The Young and The Restless – a soapie with an age restriction of 10.
Axe deodorant also came under fire for promoting the idea of women losing common sense and submitting to a man wearing a brand of perfume. Viewers said that this was offensive and an insult to women’s intelligence.
Axe’s representatives submitted that the ad portrayed an exaggeration of some young men’s imagination and wishes.
"No reasonable person would expect women to fall for a man simply based on the fragrance that he uses,” the directorate noted.
In a complaint against an ad for Durex Massage Moods Lotion, viewers complained that they were offended by images that clearly suggested a couple was about to have sex and that it was inappropriate for children to be exposed to such imagery.
"While true that the commercial promotes a product that is intimately related to sex, it does not do so in an uncouth or overtly sexual manner,” the directorate ruled.
Complaints were also lodged against an ad for Durex condoms that was flighted during April.
Some Days of Our Lives’ viewers complained that the ad was flighted at a time when kids were likely to see it, and that children "who are only beginning to learn about safe sex and abstinence do not need to see how people meet at a bar and then have sex”.
In this case the matter was settled after the SABC admitted that it accidentally flighted the commercial during Days of Our Lives, and not only after 10pm as it was supposed to do.
