ASA condemns beer ad expletive

Moa Beer. Photo / Supplied

A beeped out expletive in a radio advertisement for Moa Beer has been condemned by the Advertising Standards Authority.

Complainant M Beckett said the ad contained a man talking who used an indecent/offensive word once.

The word was preceded by a short beep, but the complainant said the beep was far too advanced to cover the profanity so the expletive was clearly heard.

The ad was played in the middle of the day on Radio Live and in further correspondence M Beckett said they had heard the ad again and it appeared it had been changed to muffle the swear word more.

"I would be very concerned if they sent this changed version of the advert to the ASA instead of the original one where the F swear-word was clearly distinguishable," M Beckett said.

Moa Beer denied that the ad had been changed. Its spokesperson said there was only one version of the advert and given the obvious inconsistency in the complaint "I feel there is no issue to respond to".

But the majority of the complaints board disagreed.

They said the expletive was clearly audible despite the beep supposed to mask it. The time the advert was played would also be a time when children could be among the listeners.

The majority ruled the advert was in breach of social responsibility standards, offended against generally prevailing community standards, and was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

- NZPA