The TV and magazine ads, created by Wieden & Kennedy, showed a black-and-white bull and cow whose black patches had been removed in an effort to purify the milk they were producing.
Eleven people found the ads offensive and complained that the message in both the TV and magazine ads could be construed as racist.
Arla Foods, the manufacturer of Cravendale, said the cows in the ads were used as a metaphor for milk and that the message in the ads was intended to communicate the unique filtration process used by Cravendale to remove bacterial impurities.
They felt that the cartoon style and comedic traits of the Cravendale ads made it clear that the environment was surreal.
The ASA acknowledged that the ads were part of a cartoon-style series. The watchdog felt that viewers would understand that the black-and-white bull and cow in the ads were intended as a metaphor for milk and were unlikely to interpret the visual representation of purification as being racist.
"Racist" Cravendale ads escape ban
by Hadassah Nymark, campaignlive.co.uk, 13 May 2009, 08:00am
LONDON - Ads promoting the purity of Cravendale milk escaped a ban after the Advertising Standards Authority received 11 complaints that they were racist.
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All Comments
Sue Turner - 13 May 2009
For feck's sake. You really have to wonder how some people get through the day. They must scare themselves sh*t-less with the stuff they read into everything they encounter. They probably don't have a pulse unless they're in high dudgeon.
John Gallen - 13 May 2009
Mental advert !
What's even funnier are the Google Ads below.... "Calving Products" anyone?
Inna A - 13 May 2009
Ha haaa....Where complaints anything in the lines of: ' Mooo, moooo mooo mo mooo!'...
Mike Page - 13 May 2009
Jeez!
Whoops, being secular there.
If people have nothing better to do all day than analyse everything around them they must be one of the following:
An MP who's now twiddling their thumbs as they can't get a new bath plug on expenses
Someone with a MAJOR chip on their shoulder
Extremely sad and in desparate need of a life.
You can draw some kind on negative connotation from nearly all imagery we see. Next they'll be saying baby product advertising is ageist.
Build a bridge and get over it!
Mark - 13 May 2009
It's so racist! Just like in snooker where the evil Ayrian white ball keeps bashing the coloured ones into isolated makeshift prisons. Ban that too.
David Bowie - 13 May 2009
ridiculous! what next - reverting back to blackboards because replacing them with whiteboards was out and out racism! insanely stupid.
Alexander Farrimond - 13 May 2009
unbelievable - BUT rappers can use terms like "leave your ass for a white girl" \(said in a derogatory fashion) but thats not racist? but this is.....
Derek Mullings - 19 May 2009
I'll be surprised if any of the 11 offended were black.
More likely bearded Lefties in sandals who think it's 'safe' to buy sweet potatoes from Sainsbury's.
gotnoteef - 21 May 2009
right, that's it - eradicate them - exterminate these muppets, their perpetual moaning means they deserve no better. Let's drag them out in to the streets and do 'em.
We'll start with these 11 morons, then it's on to the idiots who complained about the 'gay' kiss in the mayo ad, and then I'm up for tracking down and sorting the collection of half-wits that complained about the levonelle ad.
Those that are with me, meet on the village green with pitch forks, ropes, copies of Heat magazine and other items of torture. We'll show 'em.
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