Here are some examples of banned advertisements and some that are supposedly banned but are in fact not, for instance the body shop advert below. It is said to have been banned by Mattel the creators of Barbie, however this poster was first released over a decade ago in 1996 and Mattel never said anything bad about it. Due to internet rumours and the general hype the internet causes people now think the advert is new and that Mattel have issued the advert to be banned. Which is not the case and the rumours have just been created by Facebook users and other sites.
date of publication: 1996
company The Body Shop
Not actually a banned commercial but many believe it is. The public response in places like China were not good as they said the naked nippleless figure was disturbing to look at however it was never actually banned, and also people in the US said the poster was offensive but nothing was done about it. The tactics used in this adverts are just truth and honesty, some of the greatest tactics an advertiser can use. Being honest and speaking the truth is most of the time what consumers want and sometimes people just dont like the fact they are being told straight. The fact this advert has resurfaced and many people are making rumours it has been banned have probably increased The Body Shops reputation in the last couple of weeks, this will increase sales and people will look at them in a different way as a company. It would not surprise me if someone from The Body Shop themselves started the rumour to get the advert out into the world again and create some hype around it.
Here is a banned commercial from the car makers VW..
The advert was banned in 2010 and created for then new VW Polo, the ad was supposed to show the car was "small but tough" and could even withstand a suicide bomber. The ad was banned due to the fact that suicide bombing is and was a serious issue at the time of creation and although the ad may seem funny many people thought it was just immoral and wrong to show such a thing when many people are killed in these types of blasts. The ad didnt work in favour of VW with a majority of the market thinking it was a terrible ad, however many young teenagers thought the ad was fantastic, but at the end of the day they are not the people buying the cars, so overall the ad was not a success. The tactics used in this ad were just pure shock and using something that was major in the press at the time. This ad will always be frowned upon especially by the people of the UK after the July 7th bombings. This is when an ad has pushed it too far and is bordering on unacceptable and in a case like this it is only right the ad was banned and never made it to air. If they had an explosion of another kind inside the car e.g. a man accidently blew himself up by lighting a cigarette and igniting some gases i dont think the ad would have been as bad and I highly doubt it would have been banned.
Here is an ad from the jean company Levi's, this advert was banned in the UK but still aired around the world. It was on t.v. for a while before it actually got pulled from the T.V.. Here is the advert...
The ad was banned as people thought it was showing deceit and someone posing as a blind man, other people thought it was offensive to blind people. The ad was was created for Levi during the 1990s and due to the internet and youtube the ad has become very popular and is regarded as one of the top 10 banned ads of all time. The majority of the public thought the ad was clever and funny although some people complained and said it was offensive. Obviously Levi had to listen to those people and ban the ad, but at the same time the ad had a positive effect for Levi and definitely made them gain reputation whether it was good or bad it still got them recognised. The tactics used in this ad were just humour and a bit of cheekyness, I personally think the ad is funny and I would not forget it very easily. I dont think this advert is completely unacceptable, although it is slightly offensive to some people it should be taken as a joke and a bit of light humour. Either way the ad done well for Levi and it is still doing well today with over 24 million views on just one video of the advert.
Here is an ad produced for the 7up drink, it was banned after a short time on the air due to many parents thinking it was too violent for children to see. Here is the advert so see for yourself...
This ad was released around 2007 and banned shortly after it first aired, it was banned due to many complaints by parents and older people saying it was too violent for children to watch. Also due to the fact its a fizzy drink and many children drink them this advert would have been put on around the time when children are watching t.v., this advert may influence them to do such things although when you are a teenager this advert is funny. The tactics in this ad are humour and violence which is the reason it got banned, 7up did well from this ad and although it got banned many people have seen the advert and many people still search for it on the internet. I think the advert is great although pushing on the boundaries of violence on a product like this will always end up in it getting banned sooner or later. The advert I would say was successful but in terms of air time it was a total fail.
These 2 posters were banned in the UK in 2007...
The poster was banned in the UK in 2007 by the UK Watchdog Advertising Standards Agency for suggesting a direct aggression that could be seen to glamorise the use of guns and violence. The defence of the advertisers were that they specifically designed the posters so that the guns were angled away from the viewer as not to suggest it was pointing at them. I dont think there is anything wrong with these posters as there is no blood, guts or gore it is just a couple of people holding guns. There was no chance for a public response as the ASA didnt even let the poster get put up in movie theatres of stores. I dont think this advert could be seen as unacceptable as there is nothing happening in the posters, it us just an authority being over sensitive and causing trouble for designers. To change these posters you would have to remove the guns and have the characters posing in a non-threatening way and just acting casual.
Here is an advert for a horror movie being released in 2008, the poster was deemed to gruesome and showed too much detail on decapitated body parts.
The poster was banned in Australia in certain places such as bus shelters and billboards as it was seen to be too gory and the detail of the image would have sickened the people who saw it. The main reason it wasnt put on bus shelters was because people of every age would see it and it would definitely scare young children. I dont think the poster pushed it too far as it is just advertising what it is, I just think it has to been placed in the right places to prevent people who shouldnt see it from seeing it. The ban on this ad didnt have an effect on the sales as nobody knew it was meant to go on bus shelters until a couple of months after the film actually came out and the art was posted on the internet. Due to the internet many things like this happen now days and companies will just keep getting responses from the public every time the poster is seen, for advertising a horror movie the poster is great, the company just needs to be considerate as to where its placed.
Here is a poster banned in Poland in 2009, the poster was banned by the MPA
The poster was banned in 2009 by the MPA for showing direct violence to an individual, I think this poster was right to be banned as he is pointing a gun at an elderly womans head. The poster was replaced before it actually made it into the publics view by a close up shot of the main character. Although sometimes the authorities ban adverts for silly reasons, I think in this case the reason was good, the ad is a little harsh and probably deserved to be banned. The people that would watch such a movie thought the poster was very good and was dissapointed with the replacement poster, however the authorities have to listen to the majority and in this case I think they done the right thing. The film wasnt a great success in the first place and maybe this poster helped the film a little by causing some notoriety but who knows.
