An “irresponsible” TV advert for whisky featuring a man leaping off a cliff before sprouting wings has been banned for encouraging “daring” behaviour.
A watchdog began an inquiry following half a dozen complaints about the ad for Macallan single malt whisky.
It banned the ad from being shown again after finding that it broke rules regarding “social responsibility” and alcohol.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the advert was “reminiscent” of the extreme sport of base-jumping.
Edrington Distillers, based in Glasgow, was also told to ensure any future ads did not link alcohol with “daring, toughness or irresponsible behaviour”.
The advert, which was also seen on Instagram and the ITV Hub last December, featured a man jumping off a cliff and tumbling towards the ground.
As he fell, feathers started sprouting out of his arms and he began to grow wings.
Text on the screen stated: “Would you risk falling... for the chance to fly?”
As the man approached the ground he disappeared from view behind a mountain and then reappeared after he had pulled out of the nosedive and started to fly upwards as his wings were fully grown.
More text stated, “The Macallan. Make the call,” which was accompanied by an image of whisky in a glass. Six people complained to the ASA that the ads were “irresponsible” and linked alcohol with “daring”, “toughness” or “irresponsible” behaviour.
Edrington explained that the line “Make the call” was used globally to describe the brand’s “philosophy”.
The distiller said the ads featured a “fantastical story” and claimed that the treatment of the story was “mystical, almost mythical,” and “clearly removed from the real world”.
The company did not believe the ads were irresponsible, or linked alcohol with bravery, daring or toughness, and did not even show anyone drinking alcohol. It said the story was “simply a metaphor” about making decisions.
Clearcast, which pre-approves most television advertising, said the commercial was “fantastical enough” to be acceptable.
ITV said the ad was “imaginary, fanciful and dreamlike” as it was both “detached from reality” and “grotesque”, as illustrated by the sprouting of feathers and formation of wings.
Instagram said the ad did not violate its policies and it had not received any complaints about it.
However, the complaints were upheld.
The ASA said: “We noted that the opening scene in all versions of the ad featured the man running and jumping off a cliff, and considered that could be seen as being reminiscent of the extreme sport of base-jumping.
“We noted that at that point in the ads there was no suggestion that the male character had any super-human attributes or powers, or that he was part of a mythical world.
“We noted that the character was seen peering over the edge of the cliff and there was a close-up of him clenching his fists. We considered that gave the impression that he was nervous about jumping and was building up the courage to do so.
“In that context, we considered that the act of jumping off the cliff was very dangerous, potentially fatal and consisted of extreme risk-taking behaviour. That impression was compounded by the text, ‘Would you risk falling... for the chance to fly?’”
It added: “We considered that the central message of the ad, which was explicitly highlighted through the tagline, ‘Would you risk falling... for the chance to fly?’, was one of promoting risky or daring behaviour to reap possible rewards.
“Although the character was not seen consuming alcohol at any point, we considered the ads made a clear association between an alcoholic product and potentially very dangerous, daring behaviour and concluded they were irresponsible. The ads must not appear again in their current form.”
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