Walls escapes censure for 'bestiality' whipping scene

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 15-Jun-05, 09:00

LONDON – A television ad for Walls Micro Sausages has been cleared following 32 complaints accusing it of portraying bestiality and violence in showing a man with his trousers down being whipped with a wet tea towel by a dog.

Viewers said the scene, which is the culmination of a hand-to-paw battle between man and dog for the microwaveable sausages, implied sexual activity between them and was inappropriate before the 9pm watershed.

Others complained that the violent or sexual imagery was inappropriate and demeaning to men, and four viewers said that young children were frightened by the dog's attack on the man.

Earlier in the ad, created by McCann Erickson, the dog leaps at the man's crotch and rips off his trousers, revealing his Union Jack boxers.

It ends after the young man's girlfriend enters the room to see the him being whipped with a wet towel by the dog while on his hands and knees.

Rejecting the complaints, the Advertising Standards Authority said the spot was meant to be amusing.

"We considered the whipping scene was intended to be amusing rather than at all sexual, serious or demeaning. We believed it was in line with acceptable slapstick humour."

The ASA supported the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre's decision to allow the ad to be shown at any time. The ASA said there was no evidence that the ad had caused widespread distress to young children.

Two previous executions in the same campaign did not draw any complaints. They also featured the dog but ended with the human winning the upper hand in the struggle. The ad was shot with a combination of real and puppet animals.

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