Renault Clio ad banned for exploiting women - after only one complaint

[BIWI]

Story here

Whilst I'm appalled that anyone at the agency could consider this an acceptable piece of advertising, it's gratifying to see that it's been banned after only one complaint!

(I realise that by providing the link I'm actually giving the ad more air time, but I think you need to see it to realise just how jaw-dropping it becomes)

[Empress77]

ah it was going well until the ladies came out!!

[BIWI]

Exactly. Gratuitous or what?

[BIWI]

And if, as they claimed, it was to invoke the Moulin Rouge, then they should have had dancers doing the can can, who wear considerably more clothes than that, rather than women shaking their breasts in close-up for such a long time. The length of time of that part of the ad - as well as the last bit of dialogue between the two guys - makes it obvious what the director/creative team were really interested in.

[ButThereAgain]

Yes, a quick can-can line flitting across the zebra crossing might have passed muster as an evocation of the Moulin Rouge (though would still have been seedy and offputting), but what they had instead just used the Moulin Rouge as a flimsy pretext for a generic sex show.

I'll add "sexist bastards" to "crap cars" as an extra reason not to buy Renault.

Hasn't the clio been marketed as a "woman's car" in the past? So having artificially earmarked its drivers as female, the advertisers now have to use porn to prop up the drooping dicks of its male drivers who feel their sexuality threatened by not driving some Clarkson's Penis of a vehicle?

[BIWI]

I know. It's just all wrong, isn't it?

[DuelingFanjo]

well done on banning it whoever made the decision.

[AutumnMadness]

Eeeeeeww, that was actually quite disgusting. Sleazy porn.

[DuelingFanjo]

thing is, it's still out there?

I think these companies sometimes try to do their worst to get the maximum publicity that they can. crap.

[ShotgunNotDoingThePans]

That had the promise of a really clever and original ad - enough to put the real-life test drivers into that situation and show their real(ish) reaction.

The ambience (as that Cockney comedian would say) was great - but the long-drawn-out punchline, where it became basically all about giving blokes a hard-on, wrecked that completely.
Shame on Renault and their advertisers. Why would they want to exclude a huge proportion of their potential customers?
Fucking depressing.

[lemonmuffin]

I don't like things being banned after only one complaint. Free speech an all that.

But yes it is a little bit wrong.

[GrimmaTheNome]

not driving some Clarkson's Penis of a vehicle?
what was it he said, wasn't it something like 'I drive a car with an enormous spoiler because I've got a very small willy' .

Sounds like the complainant has done Renault a favour to get this banned before it could be widely aired.

[NoComet]

Fuck, as others have said it would have worked perfectly a minute shorter with relatively decently dressed can can dancers going across the screen and the back drop changing.

As it is it just says "Clio, driven by small dicked, ugly man, who can't afford a decent car. Probably spends all his money on sex sites."

[CaptChaos]

Who the actual fuck thought that that would be ok as an ad for anything, let alone a crap car? They could have made it a lot shorter (but equally vile) by having a short film of the anorak wearing creeps jacking off to porn, with a small toy car in the picture.

[DoesBuggerAll]

It's a rubbish ad. As others said, it could have been ok but they ruined it by being about 2 mins too long.

[BIWI]

It's interesting, isn't it, that it's been banned. Yet it's still freely available on the internet. (And I know I've contributed to that too)

[PoppyAmex]

Good!

Didn't Audi self-censored themselves after bad feedback for their weird "quality" ad? I think they swiftly changed the whole campaign.

[ImNotBloody14]

so basically their cars are so shit the need to give a man an erection before he'll even consider buying one? not saying much for Renault is it?

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

It's got nothing to do with free speech; advertising is not free speech - that's why it costs so much. It is regulated and objectification of women is not permitted in any medium.

[Twirlyhot]

I wonder if it's the advertising agency that made the 'complaint' and the reason it was pulled so fast is that Renault chose not to defend it. It's getting them more publicity this way.

A more honest ad for Renault would have had bits of the dancers flying off mid can-can.

[BIWI]

Oh look - Car dealers seem to think it's fab

[BIWI]

I have commented on that piece. Let's see if my comments pass their moderation team!

[Owllady]

urgh! and the bloke is acting like he has never seen a woman ina bra before ffs
what is he 12?

[ImNotBloody14]

wonder why they had no female test drivers? oh yeah....

[CaptChaos]

A cynical little voice is telling me that maybe Renault didn't need a real live complaint before they pulled the ad. It's suggesting that pulling it, but having it on YouTube and TELLING people that there had been complaints about it from wimmenz was all part of the campaign.

You know, in a kind of, 'we want to sell this car to men, only men would appreciate such a fab car, all women do is complain about how sexy this car is, look, beautiful women who get their bras out love this car, and they will love you if you drive it' style of things.

MN is making me question everything. I am becoming very cynical about pretty much everything now.

[BIWI]

Except it was the Advertising Standards Authority who actually banned it. Although quite what they have banned it from, I have no idea - as it is freely available, as far as I can see.