It showed an illegal activity – a car performing a burnout;It referred to “cops” looking out for a car, implying it was stolen;It used the word “s***”;And it was offensive to obese people and was directed towards Māori.
“The whole ad is a disgrace to Kiwis!” wrote the complainant, which might come as a surprise to the many who voted Tina from Turners their favourite New Zealand advertising character in a recent Media Insider poll.
And the full 90-second, standalone advertisement on YouTube is also a hit – it’s been viewed almost three million times in just four months.
WATCH THE FULL 90-SECOND AD HERE:
The ASA has previously thrown out two complaints that the advertisement was fat-shaming, saying the issue raised “does not reach the threshold to breach the relevant Advertising Standards Authority codes and therefore we will not take any further action”.
It said the same to another complainant concerned about the ad “showing three naked men, albeit with guitars strategically placed, in primetime viewing”.
A scene from the latest Tina from Turners ad.
However, in a new ASA decision, the complaint about the car performing a burnout has been upheld.
“A majority of the complaints board said the advertisement encouraged or condoned a dangerous, illegal or unsafe practice,” said the ASA decision.
“It also said it showed antisocial behaviour. The majority said this is due to the image of a car doing a burnout on what appeared to be a road (spinning a car’s tyres, while the car is stationary, causing a lot of smoke and noise), which is an illegal and anti-social activity.
“The majority said burnouts are dangerous and members of the public can be harmed and showing them in this advertisement could encourage this behaviour.”
The decision noted that a minority of the complaints board disagreed.
“The minority said the advertisement did not reach the threshold to encourage or condone a dangerous, illegal or unsafe practice or show anti-social behaviour.
“The minority said the image of the car doing a burnout was only shown briefly, was incidental to the main message in the advertisement and was part of the light-hearted and quirky song and images that made up the ad.”
The complaints board did not agree with the other aspects of the complainant’s concerns, including the use of the word “s***”. Nor did it agree that the ad targeted Māori.
“The Complaints Board said the song lyric ‘You got so fat, the seats don’t fit!’ is a humorous reference to the tendency for some New Zealanders to put on weight as they get older. The board said this comment was not likely to cause serious or widespread offence.”
Turners’ reponse
Tina from Turners has quickly emerged as one of New Zealand’s favourite advertisements and advertising characters.
In response to the complaint, a representative for Turner’s Cars told the ASA: “I have not attempted to defend the race-based concerns in this complaint as I do not believe there are any grounds for these and on a personal note, I find them offensive.”
They said the burnout scene was on screen for one second at the most.
“It is a commentary on a part of New Zealand culture, not a call to action for people to do burnouts, or encouraging unsafe behaviour,” they said.
They also revealed that the burnout was not filmed on a road.
“It is on private property (actually, it’s AI-generated, but the location used as the background is on private property),” they wrote.
“I also see burnouts of much longer duration regularly on 1 News with race car drivers celebrating wins. I’d argue that seeing the heroes/role models of motorsport doing a burnout on the national news would have a much greater effect than one second of a Tina from Turners ad.”
Nevertheless, because of the burnout scene, the majority of the ASA’s complaints board found the ad was in breach of the social responsibility principle and two rules under the Advertising Standards Code – the rule covering safety and another covering violence and antisocial behaviour.
The board said the YouTube advertisement was “not to be used again in its current form”.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.