‘Offensive’ admimics film

A BILLBOARD ad which referred to a rape scene in the 1972 film Deliverance has been found to be in breach of taste and decency advertising codes.

The outdoor display for the soft drink Sprite stated: “Plays the banjo while thirst squeals like a pig.” The footnote on the advertisement said: “The lemon lime hit that hurts thirst.”

The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) received objections from a number of people who said this was a reference to Deliverance. In the movie, a hillbilly character in the southern United States says “I bet you can squeal like a pig” while he is raping another male character. Earlier, a much-mimicked scene features a character playing Duelling Banjos with a young boy.

The complainants found the advertisement to be offensive because it suggested being so aggressive is commendable.

The ad was developed for Sprite’s manufacturers Coca-Cola by the McCann Erickson agency.

In response to the complaints, Coca-Cola said there was no intention to cause offence.

They said the ad scored very highly in testing the teenage target market, even though they had never seen Deliverance. The company said the “squeals like a pig” references were well known by movie buffs and that they were talking about “thirst” in an abstract sense.

The ASAI’s complaints committee told the advertisers that results of target market research were not so relevant when ads were viewable by more than the target market.

The committee upheld the complaints.