The Ass Foods saga continues. Late last June, 2oceansVibe was forwarded a little but of spice by prominent Cape Town personality, Bartlett. Bartlett told us that he intended to lay a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa regarding the offensive (and frankly, traumatising) Ass Wrap packaging at the Steenberg Pick n Pay.

The ASA has ruled in favour of Bartlett, and forced the hand of Steenberg Pick n Pay to wipe its store of all Ass related paraphenalia, amending the phrase to “Assorted”.

Check out the full ruling, below!

25 Aug 2011

Mr Bartlett lodged a consumer complaint against a Pick n Pay leaflet promoting its weekly specials for the Steenberg store.

The advertisement contains, inter alia, the wording “Ass Wraps 1499 Each”.

COMPLAINT
In essence, the complainant submitted that the advertisement is offensive as the abbreviation has a double, and offensive meaning.

RELEVANT CLAUSE OF THE CODE OF ADVERTISING PRACTICE
In light of the complaint Clause 1 of Section II (Offensive advertising) was taken into account.

RESPONSE
The respondent submitted that it has rectified the issue by ensuring that all advertising notices in the Steenberg store containing the word “Ass” have been changed to the word “Assorted”.

ASA DIRECTORATE RULING
The ASA has a long standing principle which holds that where an advertiser provides an unequivocal undertaking to withdraw or amend its advertising in a manner that addresses the concerns raised, that undertaking is accepted without considering the merits of the matter.

The respondent’s undertaking appears to address the complainants’ concerns and there is therefore no need for the Directorate to consider the merits of the matter at this time.

The undertaking is accepted on condition that the advertisement in question is not used again in future in its current format.

[Thanks, Marthinus!]

[Source : ASA]