Audi drops not to subtle paedophile car advert!

@Knoxinbox I work in advertising - I can promise you they weren’t. There’s not some “higher power”

Op without the line that goes with it and seen with the other casual photos from the shoot

Do you still see it the same way?

In that case, the issue is with the person who picked the still photo of the little girl to go with the headline. That is what's made the whole thing creepy. The other photos look fine.

I don't know. It is like those pictures where depending how you look at it you see either a landscape or a face. It could be a paedo doing a 'hiding in plain sight' stick, it could be harmless.

Reminds me of the issues I have with Gus van Sant movies. I quite liked 'my own private idaho'. But growing older (and having a child) watching his movies I sometimes get this 'creep' feeling. Like I see those teenage boys (it is always teenage boys) through the lens of a predator. And the next moment I feel I'm just imagining things...
All in all this has ruined Gus van Sant films for me.

The strap line is what makes it odd

There is nothing odd about the photos as such

I don’t think many families will be buying it now though!

I didn’t see the full advert but I looked up the photos on the website of the same car and it looks like they’re trying to make it appealing to the new age, cool young families.

I’m aware that their are peadophiles and there will always be men who think they can use children or women as objects.

I am very sensitive to this issue and can often be over sensitive/paranoid compared to most people which is why I am surprised that many people find this uncomfortable but I do not.

*women in ads.

The image on Twitter with the headline "Let's your heart beat faster-in every aspect" is off, I was a lot more taken aback with the twitter image than what is in the BBC article, as it doesn't show the image with the headline.The dress in animal print,the banana,the colour of the car and how it is reminiscent of how women have been used in as.
As other posters have said marketing departments look at every detail.It's an awful ad and message,what ever the message is supposed to be?

From some answers on here I'm thinking there are a lot of people who are unaware that there are men who openly call themselves MAPS,Pedophiles on twitter?

That picture looks like the brief was 'do an updated book cover for Lolita'

When advertising uses well established codified imagery they can't claim innocence when we read the codes

Just looking at the title of the post again @Knoxinbox what do you think happened then?
The marketing department got together with their marketing agency and said “I know we need - to appeal to paedophiles” ?
As seriously that did not happen.

The overall effect of image plus words is weird so fine to take it down.

I very much doubt it was anyone testing the waters as the op says. More an unchecked SM post that looks off.

Winesalot

I completely agree!

If a large proportion of the people think it should be removed I will happily go along with them.
As I said I personally don’t find the monkey off the coco pops racist but if there are many people who do then I would be happy if that was removed too.
I know we can’t remove everything that people find offensive but I won’t be affected in any way if it gets removed whereas if it stays it could affect people.

It doesn't actually matter if you, personally don't see the connections. If others do, and from what I have seen many people around the world have also made the connection, that is all that matters. That is why marketing departments may use either formal focus groups or at the least team feedback at the very least when floating new creative concepts to publish.

Why does she need food at all? That kid, no food, sideways on in a crossed arm “sassy” kind of pose would send a completely different message.

I think that pose would look way better!

But I don’t see the problem with having food as it’s meant to show a laid back feeling.
There is an advert (I think it’s booking a holiday) and the lady is in the bath with a glass of wine - it has nothing to do with holidays but it’s meant to show that she is relaxed and it bugs me because no one would book a holiday when they’re relaxing.

I’ve never seen anyone trying to normalise peadophilia on here or anywhere else

I read the whole thread giving posters the benefit of the doubt but this appears to be so calculatedly ignorant that I think someone's playing games.

I’ve looked at the picture over and over again and I can honestly not find anything sexual about it.
I don’t think she’s dressed or acting in a provocative way at all. Even if the same pose was by a 15 year old I still don’t think it would be provocative. If the little girl had loads of make up on or was in a bikini or something then maybe I would agree.

There are adverts where a mother is breast feeding surely some peados get off on that too. But I still wouldn’t call it in appropriate.

For those who think it is wrong - would having an apple or chocolate bar in hand make it acceptable

Why does she need food at all? That kid, no food, sideways on in a crossed arm “sassy” kind of pose would send a completely different message.

It’s the food*, plus the clothes, plus the leaning back on the bonnet in the same way adult models are used in a “sexy” way that makes it wrong.

*re the food- an apple would give an “adam and eve” vibe, chocolate is also associated with seduction....why the need at all?

This is paedophilia hiding in plain sight.

My daughter of 25 responded to the ad with a 'yuck' so it's not generational.

I’ve never seen anyone trying to normalise peadophilia on here or anywhere else

I read the whole thread giving posters the benefit of the doubt but this appears to be so calculatedly ignorant that I think someone's playing games.

From what I can tell it wasn’t a tag line to an advert. It was a line with the image on Twitter. Which means not a whole team signing it off but some non-thinking person attaching a line and choosing a shot from the shoot.

Why they picked that, I don’t know, it was a blunder.

I'm early 30s. To me, the individual aspects (leopard print, skirt, leaning on car, eating a banana) wouldn't really register with me if there was one or two of them.

But combined with "make your heart beat faster in every way" is terrible and makes me doubt that at least some of the people involved in this advert didn't know exactly what they were doing, trying to skate a bit close to the wire but with plausible deniability as their defence.

Never mind the safety issue.

I think the people saying there is nothing wrong with it whatsoever are the same type of people who take their child the Drag Queen Story Time and think it's all just innocent dressy-uppy fun.

@Sunrise234 I’m 39 I don’t see anything provocative about it either.

For those who think it is wrong - would having an apple or chocolate bar in hand make it acceptable?

No. Why have a girl doing anything with her mouth? At all?