Tongue-in-cheek ad offends

Call it a slip of the tongue, or maybe a bit tongue-in-cheek but an Auckland billboard with overtones of oral sex has been ruled indecent and offensive.

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against a billboard, meant to be "funny and silly", which depicted a casual sports type shoe, with the tongue of the shoe extended between two legs.

Wording alongside the image read: "In a recent survey, 95 per cent of women said they liked tongue ..."

A complaint against the billboard - which was advertising women's shoes - said it had a sexual connotation which was offensive to the complainant as a woman and as a parent.

Four other complaints against the advert expressed a similar view.

The authority's complaints board ruled that the billboard breached decency and offensiveness codes.

The advertiser - Tongue - said its right to freedom of speech should be considered and argued the advert did not meet the definition of offensive as found in Rule 5 of the Code of Ethics.

- NZPA