Advert for vegan charity Viva! banned over ‘Killer Yoghurt’ offal and blood photographs
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n advert for vegan charity Viva! that includes a lady consuming uncooked offal and blood from a corner-style yoghurt has been banned for being more likely to trigger severe and widespread offence.
The advert, seen on Facebook and Instagram and the Duolingo and Poki Games apps in May, confirmed the girl opening the product labelled “Killer Yoghurt. Flavoured with a mother’s grief”, to the sound of upbeat music.
A voiceover stated: “New from Killer Yoghurts – the umbilical cord flavour. Produced with only the finest ingredients, the stolen milk of grieving mothers. Taste the torment in every mouthful. Blended with brutality. Be complicit, with Killer Yoghurts.”
The lady was proven smiling and taking a spoonful from the nook part of the yoghurt, after which with blood on her tooth, lips and dripping down her chin.
A last scene confirmed an indoor dairy farming shed full of cows and the textual content: “Excited to tuck in? Intensive dairy farming is on the rise in the UK.”
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) acquired seven complaints that the advert was more likely to trigger pointless misery and severe and widespread offence and was irresponsibly focused as a result of it had been seen by youngsters.
Viva! described the advert as a “theatrically staged parody” to “highlight the hypocrisy of companies which claimed their farms had high welfare standards”.
The charity stated viewers have been “increasingly numbed to shock factors like death and violence on TV” and believed the advert was delicate compared.
The ASA stated: “Although we acknowledged people would understand the ad was intended as a comment on animal welfare, we considered the graphic and gory imagery was likely to shock and cause a sense of disgust.”
It added: “We also considered language such as ‘the umbilical cord flavour’, ‘the stolen milk of grieving mothers. Taste the torment in every mouthful. Blended with brutality. Be complicit, with Killer Yoghurts’, alongside the graphic and gory imagery, was likely to be seen as frightening and distressing to children in particular.”
The ASA concluded that the advert was more likely to trigger severe or widespread offence, and unjustified misery.
The watchdog additionally concluded that focusing on exclusions had been inadequate to maintain the advert away from youngsters.
It dominated that the advert should not seem once more, including: “We told Viva! to ensure future ads were prepared responsibly, were appropriately targeted and did not contain graphic scenes or language that were likely to cause unjustified distress to viewers.”