Ariel TVC withdrawn after ASCI’s intervention

The ad for Ariel’s sachet detergent showed a child splashing ink on his teacher’s clothes. The ad, created by Saatchi & Saatchi, was discontinued after ASCI intervened. Over the past few years, other TVCs, too, have been discontinued on similar grounds

Following a complaint received by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) in August 2006, an ad for Ariel detergent was withdrawn from telecast. The ad, created by Saatchi & Saatchi, was a tactical one, marking the launch of the Ariel sachet pack, costing Rs 2. The visual depicted a boy spraying ink from his pen onto the back of another boy’s shirt. He sprays ink again, but this time, he ends up spraying his teacher’s shirt. The voiceover concludes that as long as Ariel is there for Rs 2, the shirt can be washed clean.

According to the complaint, ‘It is quite objectionable to show such an act being done by a child as it may prompt and encourage other children to adopt the same antics which are harmful.’

The ASCI secretariat says, “Such an ad encourages children to do something which could be destructive. For instance, the ink could get into their eyes if they really try this out. Further, the ad makes light of this probable consequence by putting forth that the ink can easily be washed off by the detergent.”

As per Chapter 3.2 (b) of the Advertising Code, ‘Advertisements should not feature dangerous or hazardous acts which are likely to encourage minors to emulate such acts in a manner which could cause harm or injury.’ The Ariel ad was taken up under this code and, subsequently, Proctor & Gamble and Saatchi & Saatchi withdrew the TVC from telecast.

Following the ad’s exit from television, two other ads from the campaign were released on air, which haven’t run into any problems. One of them shows a young cricketer, using his mother’s ‘dupatta’ to clean his dirty ball. The second ad shows another boy using a dhoti in a similar setting.

In fact, over the past four years, the ASCI has been successful in discontinuing ads that, in the secretariat’s words, ‘exploit the vulnerability of minors’. For instance, three ads for Surf Kids Stains Challenge were withdrawn in 2002, after they were found to be in violation of the ASCI code. The first ad had two children – a bully and a skinny fellow – on a park bench. The bully keeps disturbing the skinny guy who is reading a book. The small boy then asks him if he has an effective stain remover at home. When the bully says no, the other boy splashes juice all over the bully deliberately. The other two ads in the same series showed kids splashing ink and ketchup, respectively, on being similarly provoked.

For the record, recently, the ASCI intervened successfully to get the Bajaj Platina 'Headlights Flashing' commercial taken off air on the basis of the ad showing ‘dangerous practices manifesting a disregard for safety without justifiable reason’. On the same basis, the ASCI was successful in getting the Chevrolet Tavera ‘Cricketers’ TVC modified.

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