The Advertising Standards Bureau has dismissed a bad language complaint against CRA’s digital radio campaign. The complaint related to the “Quality Shhh” advertisement in the ongoing campaign. It portrays a series of announcements about the weather which are distorted by radio static due to poor reception. On a couple of occasions the announcer says the word “sh…” when referring to weather conditions.

Complaints regarding this advertisement can be summed up the following comments: Although semi- bleeped out by a mistuned radio sound the use of the word shit is quite clear as only the ‘I’ sound is omitted. It is repeated several times.

In response to the complaint CRA said:

1. The characters are not intended to represent gender specific traits

The advertisement is one of a series of advertisements which form part of the “DR+ Digital Radio Brand Campaign.”  Commercial Radio Australia is the industry body for commercial radio stations in Australia and the purpose of the DR+ Brand Campaign is to raise the profile and awareness of digital radio.

Specifically, our aim with all the advertisements in the DR+ Digital Radio Brand Campaign is to educate all listeners on the features and benefits of digital radio. The advertisement in question focuses on sound quality which is an important feature and benefit of listening to digital radio.

The execution in the advertisement is a series of announcements about the weather, these are exaggerated for dramatic effect and use humour to convey the benefit about the improved sound quality that digital radio can offer listeners. The ad is supposed to represent in a humorous manner that the sound quality is crystal clear and will add value to the time spent listening.

There is nothing deliberately offensive in the ad in question.

2. No Other Complaints

For your information, please note that this particular advertisement has been broadcast on our member radio stations since the beginning of April 2011. We have 42 stations broadcasting the advertisement 4 times a day, 7 days a week in the five capital cities in which DAB+ digital radio is on air and has received only one complaint of which we are aware.

In our view, this clearly shows that listeners recognise the humour in this advertisement and do not find it offensive in the manner described in the Complaint.

In its judgement, the Board considered whether this advertisement breaches Section 2 of the Advertiser Code of Ethics (the “Code”) and The Board noted the complainant’s concern that the advertisement uses inappropriate language.

The Board noted that the advertisement is promoting digital radio and features static so that some words are not clear, and that on a few occasions the word “shhhh” replaces the probably intended word “shit”. The Board noted that the word “shit” is not actually heard, but is covered by static.

The Board considered that the term is used in a manner that is consistent with colloquial usage in Australia and was used not in an aggressive manner. The Board noted that the advertisement could be heard by children but considered that, despite being able to be heard by children, most members of the community would consider that the language inferred in the advertisement was not inappropriate and was not strong or obscene.

So it was determined that the advertisement did not breach Section 2.5 of the Code and did not breach the Code on other grounds. The Board dismissed the complaint.