So, this billboard passed the advertising standards to start with (?) and was then condemned by the ASB following a complaint.

Well that doesn’t make any sense!

Surely all adds, especially ones that are pushing the envelope, need to be carefully assessed to up front. Then the ASB needs to defend their decision if there are a few complaints, not bow to them!

We can expect companies like Calvin Klein to be pushing the envelope. We could argue that many businesses need to take their business to the legal fringe in order to be competitive. Otherwise they’ll go by the wayside, or in the case of a giant like Calvin Klein, risk losing market share. And once a company like this loses a bit of ground and is seen to not be keeping up with current trends, fashions, etc, they could really lose out badly and find it very difficult to recover.

When things are taken to the limits, they’ll offend some people. If a few people complain, it is often a good sign for the relevant company that are being taken notice of and have pushed the limits just enough to be effective without overdoing it. (And if they have been deemed to have overdone it and have to retract a line of advertising, they’ll probably be noticed a whole lot more, with a resultant boost in sales.)

So we can expect a few complaints about all manner of advertising that is right up there at the limit of acceptability.

We really do need strong and consistent judgement from the likes of the ABS. If advertising is initially approved and then deemed to be unacceptable, the company should be able to sue for costs and damages to its reputation.

Is this billboard acceptable?

Well, I find it to be in quite poor taste, but otherwise not particularly objectionable. Just pretty damn ordinary really!

I’d be more concerned about the ASB in this instance.

I thank Helen for showing the whole advertisement. Other articles have only shown the picture on the left, which can be read as showing sexual assault, if you have a very suspicious view of men. The second part of the ad forms part of the story and detracts from the argument that the ad depicts rape.

I loved the Youtube take off and even more so one that popped up following it with the actors replaced with ordinary looking guy's, belly's boxers etc. The Sausage Fest version.

I think that those who saw a rape and sexual violence in the add were not doing so well with some of their own issues.

The branding business is nonsense, I've rarely gone for it except where a particular brand has the reputation for doing the job better than other brands. I apparently don't fit the demographics of the marketing because the add's don't in any way motivate me to buy anything.

Late night ebay is another matter :(

R0bert

I think the day of complaints are only beginning with the moslem moving among us.

This is a no-brainer. Can't believe this billboard was approved by the ASB in the first place.

We can be mindless robots and pretend this billboard is nothing special for fear of the usual 'wowser' labels, or we can grow a spine like those complainants and draw the line.

If advertising does not work, the tired old parroting from the big end of town, why use explicit images like this.

The comment by Hush in regard to trying the jeans is amazingly shallow. It is not about the jeans it is about the Ad. If the jeans are so good why present it as an erotic rape-simulation scenario?

Why are people always feigning a moderate approach on these issues for fear of being labelled, when clearly the Ad is unsuitable for public display.

Pelican I've not seen the add in real life so maybe I've missed something of it's impact.

If I was getting to ban add's there are a lot of places I'd focus on before an add like that.

Almost every political add would get the chop, most are far more deceptive and bad for our culture than that billboard.
Advertising of junk food to kid's.
Add's by lawyers promoting litigation.
Taxpayer paid for advertising promoting scheme's which are very much party political.
Anti-DV add's that provide a false impression of family violence.
Add's claiming that a nasal spray can help men hold their load longer.

I'm not big on censorship but would like to reduce the visual clutter so maybe a ban on all billboards and unnecessary road signage.

R0bert