Saturday, January 27, 2007

It's official; Poms whinge

The Advertising Standards Board has reviewed a new Tooheys New Super Cold radio ad and this time has upheld the complaints against it and taken it off air.

The very witty ad features a group of British men sing the tune of “Land of Hope and Glory” using various synonyms of the word “whinge” including “whine”, “moan”, “slag” and “complain”

At its previous meeting in December the Board had dismissed complaints about the use of ‘Pom’ in other advertisements, determining that the word in isolation was generally acceptable and used as a term of affection.

BPARD spokesman, David Thomason, had claimed the word 'pom' was

"every bit as bad as the term n***er".

Said Advertising Standards Bureau acting CEO, Mark Jeanes,

“This time the Board felt that the negative words used in the radio ad detracted from the otherwise playful nature of ‘Pom’, leaving it with a derogatory and almost hostile meaning,”

he continued,

“The Board considered the advertisement negatively stereotyped and demeaned English people and found that it breached Section 2.1 of the Advertiser Code of Ethics dealing with vilification based on nationality"

Update 28/1; encouraged by their victory against the ASB, BPARD are petitioning the UN to take action on the word, Pom. BPARD spokesman, Dave Thomason

"We just object to the fact that the media won't use nicknames for other nationalities - the Italians, the French, the New Zealanders, the Americans - but they use Pom all the time. How would most Australians feel if they were called prisoners in the paper all the time."

BPARD has 14 members in Western Australia and 12 in Victoria.

I intend to file suit against BPARD for bringing the reputation of Britons into disrepute.

Tossers.