Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the Malteaser advert is in really poor taste

560 replies

Bearbehind · 04/10/2016 21:55

Just seen a Malteaser advert where a woman in a wheelchair is talking to 2 friend in the park about her date.

The jist is she had a spasm, he enjoyed the repercussions, and whilst demonstrating her hand actions the malteasers shoot out of the bag and go every where.

Is it me or is that really bad taste?

OP posts:
TheViceOfReason · 05/10/2016 09:29

Yes it's maybe poor taste - but no worse than those god awful yoghurt or shampoo adverts where the woman is making orgasm noises whilst eating yoghurt or shampooing their hair. That's even more cringey.

Dawndonnaagain · 05/10/2016 09:30

I'm not offended as such, just don't really see why wanking needs to be used to advertise chocolate.
Dawndonna's dd here.
It's meant to demonstrate the norm, and trust me, me and my 20 year old able bodied friends discuss wanking in the university bar, in the park, in our rooms, at the breakfast table. We discuss my spasms too, and my dinosaur arms when they come out!
Just out of interest, how many people ask you if you can manage sex?
Thought as much. I get asked all the time. People think they have the right to comment, to ask probing questions and to treat me as other. This advert doesn't, as I said, it accepts me as a sexually active being, without question. That's important.

SuramarMom · 05/10/2016 09:34

I understand the point the advert was trying to make.

But it really made me cringe.

Purely because it sounds like the sort of joke a skinhead would be telling his mates in the pub.

'Oh I was banging this disabled chick and she started having a fit, great hand action though'

(Mimics fast shaky handjob)

(Dirty chuckles)

spanky2 · 05/10/2016 09:36

Dawndonna dd I agree with you that disabled people are sexual beings too! I like the adverts as we never see disabled people in them usually.

MrsJayy · 05/10/2016 09:37

I hate orgasim shampoo advert they offended me more than a malteser advert. Yes I was asked in my younger years can you have sex by randoms I am 25 yrs older than Dawndonnas. Dd and I'm disappointed in what is meant to be a more progressive society disabled women still have to deal with this shit

nancyblackett80 · 05/10/2016 09:41

But OP were you offended by their other adverts, that refer to sexual harassment and maltesers taking the place of nipples?

Sorry to ask but how old are you?

Frankly sexual themes are used frequently now in advertising, wanking, nipples, threesomes, pre sex, post sex... its 2016 - if you find a chocolate advert in poor taste then perhaps you'd better stick to the radio.

AvocadoFlapjack · 05/10/2016 09:43

Yes, me, Prosecco! I hear you.

a8mint · 05/10/2016 09:49

I find it ironic that the op is complaining about Needless crude double entendre, given her user name ;-)

LittleLionMansMummy · 05/10/2016 09:53

I had a sociology teacher at A level who drummed it into us that 'Sex Sells'. It's literally everywhere - the orgasm shampoo ad is just one example. It might not be to your taste, but that's a reflection of likes and dislikes in general. The fact the actress has a disability is neither here nor there imo. Ads are supposed to reflect life and society - and humour - which happens to all of us. I remember an ad where a woman walks out of a toilet with her skirt stuffed in her knickers for example. This advert is saying 'I'm no different from you - I can laugh at myself and even enjoy sex'. I'm not that into thinking about chocolate being ejaculated to encourage me to purchase a particular brand, but the use of a person with a disability is just a natural, modern day progression of the Sex Sells theme.

LikeDylanInTheMovies · 05/10/2016 09:53

I hate orgasim shampoo advert they offended me more than a malteser advert.

The thing is, Nicole Shitsinger is only able to advertise things if she can fake an orgasm in the process. It's written into her contact. I fully expect her to deep throat a Walls Calypo in her next ad.

In a context where people with disabilities are still routinely asked if they can/do have sex, are infantilised and portrayed as objects of pity, rather than sexual active adults, it feels transformative and made me laugh like a drain.

Rather that than her nibs from Pussycat dolls offering me a 'totally organic experience' (wink, wink, nudge nudge)

PageStillNotFound404 · 05/10/2016 09:54

I think there are two separate issues being conflated here.

  1. Is the advert using sex to sell the product?
Yes, it's about wanking - and from that flows a discussion about sex in advertising.
  1. Is it a refreshing change to see disabled people portrayed as - well, people with a sex drive and a sense of humour and everything - on mainstream TV?
Yes, of course, more please - and echoing everything Dawndonna's DD has said.

But it's possible to agree with 2 while not being a fan of 1, in general principles.

MrsJayy · 05/10/2016 09:54

Deep throat a walls calypso Grin

Soubriquet · 05/10/2016 09:59

Well malteasers have accomplished their goal haven't they?

They have got people talking about them

CocktailQueen · 05/10/2016 10:01

I agree with you, Page. 10 years ago a chocolate company wouldn''t have used wanking in an advert to be shown at prime time!

But I completely agree that normalising the fact that people with disabilities have sex is a great thing.

MrsJayy · 05/10/2016 10:04

It's on after watershed often showed along side Durex lube and love honey adverts

Excited101 · 05/10/2016 10:05

Regardless of the sexual nature of the advert I think it's a shame that it's so noticeable that the actors are disabled, why should it be unusual?

The spraying of the malteasers won't mean anything to people children who don't know about 'such things' so in that respect I don't think it's a big deal. There's far more sexual nature in This Morning and that's certainly not post watershed.

Thefishewife · 05/10/2016 10:10

Personally I think the op dosent like it because it's about disabled people having sex and talking about sex with a lot of people find diffcult

Get over it there are loads of ads that are about sex

Boddingtons anyone were the man licks his way to the bedroom

Or the m&m ad were they lady is in bed with the chocolate and the husband bursts in and say oh yu started with out me

Get a grip

This is why people with disabilities don't get shown anything unless and chamgain ad gets oh wants disability got to do with x y or z then que the Twitter boycott and back lash this ad has been on for ages as I persume the disabled actors that were interviewed on channel 4 about this

You Johnny come lately would have objected if they thought it was in poor taste

There is always a lot of ringing of hand from people who are not actually disabled it's like when KFC did a lovely ad about a boy with his adopted family as and adopter I am so glad adoption can be normalised but the back lash from the Mary Whitehouse lot I am quite sure no other brand with bother

BlancheBlue · 05/10/2016 10:14

Boddingtons anyone were the man licks his way to the bedroom

That was a Carling Advert and from what I remember was cut slightly after ASA involvement

Thefishewife · 05/10/2016 10:14

A skin head 🙁 Have I time warped into the eighties

I think yu will find that it's not just skin heads who mock disabled people

Sadly awful people come from all walks of life

MrsJayy · 05/10/2016 10:16

I to think the op was shocked and offended and uncomfortable with the woman in the advert it wasn't about the wanking it was about the woman's spasm that caused the wanking that made them uncomfortable and think it was bad taste

Thefishewife · 05/10/2016 10:23

The op is not disabled the actors are I think I know whose judgment I will be taking on this one

It was well received by all on the last leg and the disabled athletes

If she finds waking offesive she's not going to be watching much Barr BBc 2 these days

No doubt because of the moaning they won't use disabled actors again well done

It's disability and sex that's makes her feel awful she's not complained about all the other ads that are in poor taste sex wise of all the ad that st to style balck of Asian propel that aren't being ironic

Irush · 05/10/2016 10:23

I actively like the fact that it features a girl in a wheelchair and that the joke is about her being disabled. But I HATE the fact its about wanking. I have never seen an advert for sweets that involves wanking or overt sexual references and tbh its put me right off Maltesers!!

Sephipops · 05/10/2016 10:25

See, when I first saw the advert my immediate reactions were:

  1. Ooh, a disabled actress in an advert! Awesome!
  2. I want chocolate.
  3. Not on the floor! Those poor malteasers, what a waste...
Irush · 05/10/2016 10:26

If the actor wasnt disabled and it just about a woman wanking off a bloke then it would be an utterly shit ad, so how is that inclusive?

I hope it gets banned. I bet it was written by a bloke, I've never heard three women have a conversation like that around a cafe table in the middle of the day. Maybe if they were pissed in a club or at a party.

MrsJayy · 05/10/2016 10:29

Urm M&M advert woman in bed with giant sweet her husband tells her off for not wanting on him to start the threesome