3 years ago
1
ARTICLE AD BOX
An radio ad has been removed.
- A simulated armed robbery advertisement was deemed unreasonable frightening by the Directorate of the Advertising Regulatory Board.
- A man can be heard yelling "Get on your knees! Get on your knees!" on the radio commercial that aired on Eastwave Radio 92.2 FM.
- The complaint, whose wife was a victim of robbery, felt it was a life-like scenario that brought back painful memories.
The Directorate of the Advertising Regulatory Board has instructed Incredible Door to remove its advertisement on radio after a complainant argued it featured a simulated armed robbery that provoked fear.
According to the directorate, the commercial, which aired on Eastwave Radio 92.2 FM, opened with a man yelling in what sounded like an American accent, "Get on your knees! Get on your knees! Nice and slowly. Now open up that safe".
As it continued, the directorate said, a voiceover was heard, cautioning listeners home and business robberies have become a reality and were happening all around.
In the voiceover - which markets the need for top-quality safety doors, aluminium doors, and windows manufactured and installed by Incredible Door - the advert then ends with "Incredible Door -your security is our priority".
Reacting to the advertisement, complainant Ahmed Moolla said the commercial featured a stimulated armed robbery or invasion which the perpetrator said to "get down on your knees, slow and easy".
He added:
This is a very life-like scenario, and to those people who were subjected to this action in real life, you can imagine what it does to them.
Moolla said the advertisement brought "back painful memories" as his wife was a victim of an armed robbery and was told to get on her knees.
In his view, he added, the advert had no relevance to the product being sold at Incredible Door.
His attempts to reach out to the radio station and advertiser was unsuccessful, as they did not respond.
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However, after the matter was brought to the directorate's attention, Incredible Door responded.
It said it had no intention of harming the audience or listeners but to express the real-life criminal and dangerous situations in communities.
The main intention of the wording 'Get down on your knees' is to highlight to potential customers that it could be too late if preventative measures are not in place, while the remainder of the advert continues to describe the product and its durability. The purpose of the words is to let all citizens be aware of the reality of not having security measures and not to provoke fear.
Despite Incredible Door's argument behind its reasons for the commercial, the directorate found it "unacceptable advertising fear" as per Clause 3.1 of Section ll, which reads that advertisements must not, without justifiable reason, play on fear.
Although the directorate did not agree with Moolla that the soundbite used in the advertisement had no direct link to the product being sold, it argued the logical connection between the two did not mean fear could be used as a marketing tool.
In response to the loud voice demanding the listener to "get down on your knees", the directorate was of the opinion anybody who survived a similar scenario, or was particularly frightened of such a scenario, would find the commercial "extremely disturbing".
"This is underlined by the pitch of the music. It is not necessary to invoke this level of fear to communicate the importance of the product or its use.
"Exactly the same amount of information could be conveyed if the commercial opened with the words 'home and business robberies'," the directorate said.
With this, it found the commercial provoked an unreasonable level of fear and was in breach of Clause 3.1 of Section II of the Code and instructed Incredible Door to remove it immediately.
English (US)