'Sure Girl' advertisements

Ok - Im normally quite liberal about the ads that I see on the tv and Ive never felt the need to complain before but this morning I saw an advertisement that just took my breath away with its irresponsibility.

The ad is for Sure Girl (a spray deodorant), and the scene takes place in a moving vehicle, 3 young girls (perhaps 14 years old or so) are in the back seat with a front seat passenger recording action on a camcorder - music blasts through the car and the 3 young girls in the back are bouncing around and dancing in their seats to the music of 'Dont you wish your girlfriend was hot like me', arms flying about and one girl hangs out the window at one point. The product is revealed only at the end of the ad.

Why am I annoyed? Because not one of them is wearing a seatbelt, they are throwing themselves around the back of a moving car, the person with the camcorder is giggling and encouraging them on - I honestly thought it was a Road Safety ad and that we would suddenly see all 3 being thrown into the camera and bashed to bits to illustrate how unsafe they were.

I was flabbergasted when I realised it was a deodorant ad - I just dont think it presents a very responsible attitude to Road Safety in this day and age.

Im going to make a complaint about it to the Advertising Standards Authority.

Has anyone else seen it and what do they think?

I haven't seen the ad yet but if its as you described then its totally irresponsible. Deffo a candidate for a complaint to the Advertising Authority.

redstar said:

I haven't seen the ad yet but if its as you described then its totally irresponsible. Deffo a candidate for a complaint to the Advertising Authority.

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I agree. I haven't seen it either, but from the way you describe it there's no way it should be aired.

Trent said:

I agree. I haven't seen it either, but from the way you describe it there's no way it should be aired.

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Why not hold off judgment until you've seen it...

rmelly said:

Why not hold off judgment until you've seen it...

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he said 'from the way you describe it'. Therefore he is making a judgement based on how the OP described the ad which he is perfectly entitled to do.

I am aware of that but it is still ridiculous - "Down with this sort of thing" - why don't we all jump on the bandwagon of something we know nothing about.

rmelly said:

I am aware of that but it is still ridiculous - "Down with this sort of thing" - why don't we all jump on the bandwagon of something we know nothing about.

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Well - the bottom line is they didn't have seat belts and were all jumping around at the back of the car.

LIke - it is pretty black and white to most people.
Either it did happen - or it didn't happen.

Unless the OP was compeletly imagining things then I'm sure that is pretty much what happened.

I think someone is more than entitled to give a fleeting response on some web forum without having actually having seen the ad.
It's not a court of law here.

ANd in fairness, teh poster did also state "...by the way you describe it..."

qwertyuiop said:

I think someone is more than entitled to give a fleeting response on some web forum without having actually having seen the ad.
It's not a court of law here.

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Fair enough - I think the advert is brilliant.

This is the sort of thing which will have people rushing to find the advert on youtube etc even if it gets banned...which I suspect is a coup for the advertiser.
Although this may very well contravene advertising guidelines/codes etc.. another view is .... that
On TV and films people do all sorts of things which defy reality. Does that make the viewer any less responsible ? Should all creativity through media be clamped down upon because of the risk that someone stupid might view it ? And isnt there far worse available on the internet anyway? I'd be interested in some sincere views about this.

rmelly said:

Fair enough - I think the advert is brilliant.

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Oh - someone who has seen it - what exactly do you think is brilliant about it?

truthseeker said:

Oh - someone who has seen it - what exactly do you think is brilliant about it?

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I don't think he has seen it. I think he is being sarcastic because people were judging it before seeing it for themselves

Did it make you more likely to go out and buy 'sure girl' or to dance in the back of a car with no seat belt on? I think its safe to assume that adults won't take safety tips from deodorant ads so a complaint isn't necessary in my opinion.

It made me highly concerned that young girls might think it was a good idea to dance round the backs of cars with no seatbelts on. These girls were around 14 years old - its an impressionable age.

truthseeker said:

It made me highly concerned that young girls might think it was a good idea to dance round the backs of cars with no seatbelts on. These girls were around 14 years old - its an impressionable age.

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But I then have to ask the obvious question. Who is driving the alleged car ? An adult perhaps ?

MrMan said:

Did it make you more likely to go out and buy 'sure girl' or to dance in the back of a car with no seat belt on? I think its safe to assume that adults won't take safety tips from deodorant ads so a complaint isn't necessary in my opinion.

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I agree, I would like to think that people/teenagers can differentiate between adverts on tv and reality. If you're really worried, a quick explanation to your children about car safety might be in order, otherwise I don't think adverts should be heavily policed unless they cause serious offence to a particular group!

stir crazy said:

But I then have to ask the obvious question. Who is driving the alleged car ? An adult perhaps ?

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Im not sure if you see the driver at all - I only started to take note a few seconds in when I realised there were no seatbelts.

ney001 said:

I agree, I would like to think that people/teenagers can differentiate between adverts on tv and reality. If you're really worried, a quick explanation to your children about car safety might be in order, otherwise I don't think adverts should be heavily policed unless they cause serious offence to a particular group!

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Totally disagree with this - glorifying something unsafe is not a good idea for any advertisements.

ney001 said:

I agree, I would like to think that people/teenagers can differentiate between adverts on tv and reality. If you're really worried, a quick explanation to your children about car safety might be in order, otherwise I don't think adverts should be heavily policed unless they cause serious offence to a particular group!

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I agree but then why are we trying to ban tobacco sponsorship and alcohol advertising. If the 14 year old girls had been smoking, there would be outrage so in this climate it probably is irresponsible advertising to show young people not wearing a seat belt.

truthseeker said:

Im going to make a complaint about it to the Advertising Standards Authority.

Has anyone else seen it and what do they think?

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I think you're wasting your time based on my own past experience. They are an advertising industry self regulatory body with no statutory powers. If they do eventually make a ruling in favour of your complaints then it will probably come long after the advertising campaign has run its course. If I had a problem with a specific advertisement then I would probably sooner complain directly to the company in question rather than bother with the ASAI. Maybe you could ring Joe about this?

Sunny said:

I agree but then why are we trying to ban tobacco sponsorship and alcohol advertising. If the 14 year old girls had been smoking, there would be outrage so in this climate it probably is irresponsible advertising to show young people not wearing a seat belt.

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I don't think that alcohol advertising should be banned either!. I think of my 12 year old sister, from the time she was a toddler she was putting on her seat belt and it was drummed in to her that her seatbelt should always always be worn no matter how short the journey. I know for a fact that just watching an advert were people don't wear a seatbelt would not in anyway discourage her from wearing a seatbelt and would not undo ten years of nagging from adults to wear a seatbelt. She is just not that impressionable and I credit her (even at 12) to know the difference between an advert and the reality of traveling by car. The fact is there are a lot of ads and programmes on TV which although not setting a great example, have to be taken for what they are - fiction not reality!.