The controversial campervan rental company Wicked Campers has again come under fire from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

One of the Australian company’s vans, seen in Otago, showed a cartoon image of two people with hooded faces pointing guns at each other with the tagline “Chill or be Chilled.”

A complainant said the advertisement depicted gun violence and suggested violence as a solution if someone wasn’t “chilled out”.

The ASA’s complaints board said the image of guns combined with the slogan was threatening and suggested violence.

The board agreed that, taking in to account the wide range of people who could potentially view the advertisement, it  had  not been  prepared  with a  due  sense of  social responsibility and  was likely  to  cause serious  or  widespread offence.

In making its decision, the complaints board referred to a precedent decision, where the statement on a vehicle read “I’d rather be dead than cool,” a quote attributed to the rock band Nirvana. This decision was also upheld.

The Authority upheld the complaint.

The board also said it was disappointed that Wicked Campers refused to respond to the complaint or to any of the many previous complaints against it.

Ferrero takes self-regulatory action over lolly ad

A television advertisement for Ferrero’s Tic Tacs portrayed several scenarios where Tic Tics are being shared, including a box of the small lollies shaken as a rattle in front of a baby.

A complainant was concerned the advertisement encouraged people to use a Tic Tacs box as a baby rattle and this presented a choking risk. The advertiser acknowledged the problem and said it had been brought to their attention when the ad screened in Australia. They had changed to a shorter version of the ad which does not include the baby scene. They had committed to edit and amend this scene in the longer version prior to it being screened again.

The ASA ruled the complaint was settled.