Advertising Standards Board bans ‘HUMPing’ – Thirsty Camel relaunches edited version online
Thirsty Camel has discontinued their ‘HUMP’ TVC and relaunched an edited version online, after the Advertising Standards Board declared the ad breached their Code.
The cheeky campaign featured removable ‘HUMP’ stickers posted over city street signs, directing people to ‘express HUMP’ and ‘casual HUMP’, with the challenge to ‘Think Camel’.
The ASB ruled that the ad, which was designed as a light hearted way to encourage people to visit Thirsty Camel Bottleshops, portrayed violence and endorsed vandalism.
Fysh Rutherford, advertising stalwart and creative director at Melbourne-based Twenty20, the agency behind the ad, questioned the banning and the reasons behind it.
“It seems to me that rather than reinforcing social values, the ABS are dabbling in social engineering. They’re not reflecting community attitudes, they’re trying to shape them with their moral judgements,” he said.
“The ABS would like us to stop thinking, to stop doing certain things, in case we might influence society. Do we really believe that people watching this ad will be compelled to commit acts of violence and vandalism? Of course not. The ad’s not exploiting society in any way.”
Thirsty Camel’s marketing cmmunications manager, Leah Menzies, agreed, saying the ad was simply reflecting popular culture while staying true to Camel’s spirit of irreverence.
“The ‘vandalism’ our ad was banned for is inspired by street art, which is prolific in Melbourne and around the world, and is actually a recognised and popular art form within our target market,” she said.
“The core brand value of Thirsty Camel is irreverence. It might be seen as a little controversial sometimes but it’s always well-meaning. The HUMP stickers we used were immediately removed after filming finished. We didn’t set out to offend and we certainly didn’t aim to endorse violence.”
The original TVC was very well received by Thirsty Camel customers and many expressed their annoyance at the banning.
Visit Thirsty Camel’s Facebook page to view the original and edited version, and decide for yourself if the ad portrays violence.
8 Comments
Let’s ban the Thought Police.
You’d have to be drunk to think this was effective communication
Was this really banned?
It seems way too beige and boring for anyone to have even cared.
Someone should design a sticker that reads,
“Stop turning things you find on youtube or the web into ad campaigns and claiming it as your own idea.”
And stick it over Creatives mouths.
http://www.fuckthiswebsite.com/
Poor mans version of a poor mans version of Droga Ecko Air Force One.
I hope you enjoyed it during the concept presentation from the agency Leah!
Being original is overrated. Appropriation is where it’s at.
8.48 I was doing that stuff with a bunch of mates to outdoor Billboard Posters about 15 years ago, though we would replicate the posters perfectly so it looked real. So the fuck bloke must have stolen the idea of me…probalby.
It doesn’t matter what someone did years ago (in a grage, on a notepad, in their head in a bubblebath), the client liked it and it ran. Then the cotton wool patrol took it down.