Low-price retailer Big W has been forced to remove a video advert primarily due to a pixellated middle finger gesture by a young girl.
The advert formed part of a new campaign titled “How Good's That?", focusing on things like school holidays, working from home and the weekend. In one particular advert, which has since been removed, a mum appears to be stopped by a Big W crew on the street and asked, 'How good’s school holidays?'
She replies with a wry smile, saying “So good”, before the advert runs through a quick-fire series of user-generated content (UGC) of kids generally misbehaving. The final UGC style clip is of a girl who is smiling and lying comfortably on the couch in her pyjamas when she makes a middle finger gesture that is pixellated.
The video then wraps up with a child playing with an indoor basketball set while his mum watches nearby, holding a warm drink in her hand. The name of the product and price appear on the screen, followed by a voiceover that says “How Good’s That. Big W”. The advertisement ends with the child trying to shoot the basketball into the net – but missing – and his mum saying supportively, “Nailed it”.
The advert appeared across TV free-to-air, BVOD, SVOD and YouTube.
In response to a few complaints sent through to Ad Standards, Big W reported that the advert was given a P rating by ClearAds, which means parental guidance is recommended and that the ad can be broadcast at any time of the day except during or adjacent to children or preschool programs.
“Big W, in coordination with its media buyer, have taken deliberate steps during the media planning and buying process to ensure that the above broadcasting requirements have been complied with, and will remain complied with,” the company confirmed.
The retailer also noted that paid advertisement views across BVOD and SVOD are bought to show up against people older than 25 years of age, based on individual publisher demographic segmentation.
As for YouTube, channel followers and subscribers will receive an alert that the video is available, but they need to follow or subscribe to get this notification.
Regarding the pixellated middle finger, Big W confirmed it is not strong or obscene in its depiction, and it is only on screen for a second.
“Whilst it is suggestive of a middle finger, the gesture is pixellated and therefore the precise details of the gesture cannot be determined for certain by the viewer,” Big W noted.
“The gesture is also fleeting (1 second long) and therefore any impact of the gesture is diluted.”
Big W further noted that an Ad Standards community panel has dismissed several complaints that included the middle finger gesture.
“The gesture in the advertisement is also appropriate in the context of the broader advertisement and campaign. As explained above, the purpose of the advertisement and “How Good’s That” campaign is to show families (particularly mums) that Big W understands how chaotic and less-than-perfect family life can be. The clip of the gesture fits in with the rest of the UGC style clips, which are all of children in raw, unfiltered moments.
“The gesture in the advertisement is also not used in a demeaning or aggressive manner. The child is comfortably lying on the couch in her pyjamas, and smiling, when she cheekily and unexpectedly makes the gesture.”
In its verdict, the Ad Standards community panel pointed out that even though the pixellated middle finger is fleeting, it “left little to the imagination of any viewer.”
“The panel considered that such non-verbal language would be considered by most members of the community to be inappropriate for children to use, even if done in a playful setting,” the panel wrote.
“The panel acknowledges the advertiser’s [Big W’s] reference to an earlier case under reference 0206-23. In this matter, the panel concluded that an unpixellated image of a young child extending the middle finger was not in breach of the AANA Code of Ethics. However, the panel notes that, in the prior instance, the ad was promoting an artistic festival aimed at challenging norms, and that this ad appeared at a location targeted at likely attendees.
“The panel considered that the current ad, however, is directed at a much broader audience, who would not necessarily want to challenge societal norms, and would consider a child displaying the middle finger as inappropriate for a broad audience.”
Following this, the panel considered that the middle finger gesture in the Big W advert was not appropriate for the circumstances, adding that the child’s behaviour was not shown to be condemned or corrected, “as would likely be the case in many households.”
The panel considered that the ad did breach Section 2.5 of the Code.
In response the decision, Big W thanked the panel for their time and confirmed that the particular advert has been discontinued across all channels. “Big W will not use the advertisement in its original form going forward,” they wrote.
The video advert can be viewed via a YouTube link pasted in the Ad Standards case report here.