Scottish beer brand BrewDog has been rapped by advertising watchdogs after displaying an ‘offensive and profane’ billboard promoting non-alcoholic drinks outside a primary school.
Dozens of parents registered complaints over the advert promoting their Punk AF beer which included text reading: “SOBER AS A MOTHERFU”.
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The craft brewer said the ad “was not designed to cause offence and given it contained no profanity, it would not cause serious or widespread offence and was not inappropriate for display in a medium where it could be seen by children.”
However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) disagreed, citing a “clear reference” to the full slur, noting it attracted 26 complaints.
They have ordered the ad, which was launched in October and supposed to run for 44 weeks, be removed and stated it “must not appear again in the form complained about.”
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The location of the primary school has not been revealed for privacy reasons.
An ASA statement read: “We acknowledged that the word was not displayed in its entirety; however, we considered the word ‘motherf****r’ was clearly being alluded to, and “motherfu” would therefore be understood as a clear reference to that swear word.”
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