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ADVERTISING STANDARDS COMPLAINTS BOARD
PO Box 10-675 Wellington
Telephone (04) 472-7852
Facsimile (04) 471-1785
Email [email protected]
Website www.asa.co.nz
06/385
DECISION
Chairman’s Ruling
18 November 2006
Complaint 06/385
Complainant: A. Machin
Advertisement: Domino’s Pizza
Complaint: A television advertisement for Domino’s Pizza featured a male and two females
eating roast beef pizza. As the blonde female chews the pizza she starts to take on the
characteristics of a male. She looks at the brunette female and moves over to sit next to her.
“The brunette asks “Are you ok?” The blonde replies “I’m fine.” Then putting her arm
around the brunette and sitting in a relaxed male pose, she says “Not as fine as you though!”
Images of pizzas are shown while a voice over says: “Unleash the bloke within, try
Domino’s new roast beef specials.”
Complainant, A. Machin, was of the view that it was completely inappropriate to use
sexual innuendo in the context of food advertising. The Complainant also said it implied that
lesbian sex only exists to amuse men and that the stereotype of a “bloke” is negative as the
advertisement portrays young men as being obsessed with sex and unaware of social
decorum.
The relevant provisions were: Code for People in Advertising, Basic Principles 4, 5 and 6.
The Chairman noted the issues raised by the Complainant in relation to the advertisement
before him when viewing the advertisement. The Chairman noted that the advertisement
was promoting a new type of pizza with roast beef that was more likely to appeal to a male
audience. While the advertisement made use of stereotypes to highlight the ‘blokey’ appeal
of the product, the Chairman ruled that the level of humour and exaggerated behaviour in the
advertisement meant that the threshold to cause serious or widespread offence had not been
reached. There were therefore no grounds for the complaint to proceed.
Chairman’s Ruling: Complaint No Grounds to Proceed