LONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Britain's advertising regulator
has banned a TV ad that showed a girl eating cheese while
hanging upside down, saying it could promote behaviour that
could lead to choking.
The ad for Dairylea cheese, a brand of U.S. snacks giant
Mondelez, had been shown on British video-on-demand
services in August last year.
It featured two girls, aged six and eight, hanging upside
down from a soccer goalpost, discussing where food went when you
hang upside down. One of the girls then ate a piece of Dairylea
cheese.
The Advertising Standards Authority said children could try
to emulate the girls, and one person had complained that a
three-year-old relative had eaten food while hanging upside down
after seeing the ad.
Mondelez said the ad was aimed at parents, and had been
shown only on programming for adults. The girls were close
enough to the ground to be safe from falling, and adults
supervising them could be seen in the background. However, the
ASA concluded these were not sufficient factors to reduce the
risk of harm.
(Reporting by James Davey
Editing by Peter Graff)
ITV (ITV)