A TV ad for Mars Wrigley Confectionery brand Twix – which showed two identical cars in a Dukes of Hazard-style car caper – has been battered by the watchdog despite the company’s insistence that “it was set in a separate world that was absurd, fantastical and removed from reality”.
The ad opened by showing a man driving a car, being followed by a second car. The man sped up, put the hand brake on, swerved to the right-hand side of the road and broke through a metal barrier, leaving the road in a cloud of dust.
He was then shown inside the car falling down a rocky hill. The second car stopped at the point where the first car left the road, with the broken barrier and dust still visible.
The first car was then shown upside down but placed on top of an identical car at the bottom of the hill. The same man was in both cars, one upside down, the second upright. The man in the car below looked up through the sunroof at the man above. As the first man grasped the gear stick, a second hand was shown from above placing it on his hand.
The car was then put in gear and drove off with the second car attached above it. Both cars, attached, drove along a road with on-screen text that said, “Two Is More Than One Twix”.
However, five complainants believed that ad encouraged dangerous driving and was irresponsible, triggering an investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority.
In its defence, Mars Wrigley insisted the ad had a cinematic presentation and was set in a separate world.
It explained the ad was split into two parts. The first part had a good versus bad theme, reminiscent of classic films. The cars were shot driving at lawful speeds and any emulation would only reflect the legal and safe driving presented.
Mars Wrigley said it had removed identifiers of the real world from the road scenes, including vehicles, pedestrians, or road signage, to distance the setting from reality.
The second part of the ad, a dual car performing a stunt that defied physics, depicted a scenario that was clearly exaggerated and not possible in reality. The surreal moment highlighted that the scene was clearly fictional and tongue in cheek.
That was further emphasised by scenes of two hands operating a gear shift, a hand break turn that was not possible in real life and the man shown calmly driving off a cliff. The firm maintained it made sure the action was clearly in a fantasy world and would be impossible to recreate.
However, the ASA had other ideas, citing the CAP and BCAP Codes which state that ads must not condone or encourage irresponsible driving or a breach of the legal requirements of the Highway Code.
While the watchdog did acknowledge the ad contained some clearly fantastical elements in the latter part and had a cinematic feel overall, at the beginning of the ad the driver was shown on an ordinary road, when a car approached behind him.
In a nutshell, it was the feeling of speed – emphasised by the fast paced beat and music – that condemned the spot.
The ASA concluded: “We considered the emphasis on a chase, and the speed inherent to that, and the driving manoeuvres featured would be dangerous and irresponsible if emulated in real life on a public highway. Because we considered the driving depicted in the ads condoned unsafe driving, that appeared likely to breach the legal requirements of the Highway Code, we concluded the ad was irresponsible.”
Banning the ad from appearing again in its current form, the watchdog warned Mars Wrigley over repeating such scenes in any future activity.
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