Thirsty Camel ran a radio ad that went like this: “They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Not true. Because right now, at Thirsty Camel, we’re giving away a gourmet supermodel’s lunch. That is, a refreshingly free bottle of water”.

The bottleshop chain behind this ad is effectively making fun of the light diets that supermodels have, and hit a sore spot for one of many listeners. The complaint that was sent read: “Disordered eating should not be prompted, mocked or taken lightly, it deeply affects many people’s life”.

Once the Advertising Standards Board received the complaint they agreed with it and the ad in question had to be pulled from the airwaves. The ad initially ran on radio station Nova FM from December to January. The aim of the ad was to promote a campaign to give away 40,000 bottles of water in a Victoria Thirsty Camel bottle shop.

The company to defend their ad wrote back: “The advert in question uses satire to reference dated stereotypes about supermodels; however at no point in time do we use language that is discriminatory, exploitative, degrading or demeaning as suggested by the complaint”.

The Advertising Standards Board pulled the ad because of the stereotype type that supermodels have eating disorders. They believe that such an ad is not to the benefit of the community as a whole. Humor in advertizing is great, but when boundaries are overstepped it can be offensive as was proven to be the case this time.

Read the full article here.