ASA stubs out e-cig ‘blow job’ ad

A TV ad for e-cigarette brand VIP – which featured a sultry model seemingly offering the viewer oral sex – has been snuffed out by the ad watchdog after becoming one of the most complained about ads in history.
The 20-second TV spot kicked off with the model saying: ““I want you to get it out, I want to see it, I want to feel it, hold it, put it in my mouth, I want to see how great it tastes.”
It was followed by a second commercial showing a man making similar statements, including: “Do you want to see it? I can get it out if you like.”
They were first aired in November in the Granada region but when rolled out nationwide during a post-watershed ad break in I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! all hell broke loose. The Advertising Standards Authority received 1,156 complaints across 7 issues, making the commercial the sixth most complained about ad of all time.
The ASA said both spots breached the ad code because of their “sexually provocative presentation” of the woman and man; it maintained that the post-9pm restriction was not sufficient and that they should only have been shown after 11pm.
However, the watchdog said the same ads shown on YouTube did not breach the code and also cleared the spots for a number of other complaints, including criticism that they were “sexist” and “irresponsible”.
The ruling comes as the European Parliament is set to vote on whether tighter regulation is needed for e-cigarettes. MEPs have already decided they should be classed as consumer products, meaning they will not have the same controls as nicotine patches which are classed as medicinal. But some want them to be regulated on health and safety grounds.

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