NATIONAL: Rivers Australia has pulled a controversial ad campaign describing its reversible vests as 'Bi-Polar'.
The Australian Standards Bureau (ASB) deemed the print advertisement as discriminatory against people on the basis of their disability and said it breached the national code of ethics.
The campaign ran in the brand's autumn/winter catalogue and featured an image of its reversible vest with the heading 'Bi-Polar'. An extract from the advertisement read:
"Bi-Polar? Get it? You know, it's a polar fleece vest and it's reversible, for those times when your mood changes and you feel like wearing a different colour all of a sudden. Pretty smart hey?"
While the company claimed the advertisement was "an example of Rivers quirky sense of humour", the ASB board said it satirised and ridiculed a feature of mental illness over which sufferers had no control.
Rivers Australia confirmed the advertisement had only been published once and would not be released again.