LEEDS, ENGLAND AND AUCKLAND, NZ — Outdoor advertisements associating alcohol and sex are raising a ruckus in England and New Zealand. Regulators and watchdogs in both countries have stepped in to protect children from messages critics say are inappropriate.New Zealand’s Dominion Breweries replaced roadside billboards asking “Would you rather watch porn with your mum or your sister?” after protestors called the message “offensive.” The larger-than-life ads, part of a campaign to promote the brewery’s ready-to-drink bourbon-and-cola beverages, were intended to be humorous, if edgy, a spokeswoman said.
“It was never meant to offend,” Hailey Bloore told the New Zealand Press Association. She said the “porn” billboards were replaced with other messages from the series, including “Would you rather lose all of your teeth or all of your toes?” and “Would you rather be an ugly millionaire or a ridiculously good-looking hobo?”
Hamilton, NZ-based morality watchdog Voice Waikato said the DB billboards represented an increasing encroachment of pornography into mainstream media.
“You can’t separate the message from what they are promoting,” Voice Waikato spokesman Bert Jackson told the NZPA.
In Leeds, England, the Advertising Standards Authority imposed a ban on a poster-sized come-on for local bars that combined in its message the lure of easy sex and cheap drinks. Depicting scantily clad women and blaring “I [heart] sex!” and “£2 vodka and Red Bull” under the headline “S.E.X – the Saturday Entertainment Experience,” the poster sent the wrong message to the college students it targeted and could be seen by children, the ASA noted.
According to a spokesperson for Taking Liberties, the promoter of the event, the poster attracted just one complaint despite being seen by more than 125,000 people.
Never mind that, an ASA spokesman said. The potential to damage young psyches was evident.
“While the clothing and poses of the women were not in themselves likely to be considered sexually provocative or sexually explicit, their appearance was likely to be considered attractive and appealing to young people wanting to meet and socialize,” an ASA spokesman told the Daily Mail.
The poster “went beyond advertising alcohol simply in the context of price or entertainment and linked it with sexual activity,” the ASA spokesman added.
