Bugger - no sharing a swig
03 March 2006
By TRACY WATKINS

Phrases such as bugger and sheep-shagger are acceptable ? but apparently there is no place on the telly for an advertisement showing a father and son swigging fruit juice from the same bottle. The Advertising Standards Complaints Board says the Keri fruit juice advertisement should be taken off air ? because it is socially irresponsible. The ruling follows several decisions reflecting the growing number of complaints demanding that advertisers be more socially responsible.

The board acknowledged yesterday that the advert probably would have been acceptable a few years ago ? but said society had moved on. "What the board felt was that there is an issue now that perhaps wasn't recognised in earlier times around health and saliva and sharing and meningococcal disease," executive director Hilary Souter said.

Defending the advert, Keri's owner, Coca-Cola, told the board it was a light-hearted take on what "is widely acknowledged as a bad habit". It showed a father reprimanding his son for taking a swig from the bottle ? then sneaking a swig himself. "We believe that the advert underlines the fact that it is not socially acceptable to drink directly from the bottle." Though the board has allowed ads using words such as "pissed", "sheep-shagger" and "bugger", it has ruled against a 1kg Easter egg ad, said to encourage children to eat excessive amounts of chocolate, and another featuring dancing, chanting butchers as insulting to Hare Krishnas.

Health Ministry communicable disease and immunisation manager Alison Roberts said officials were pleased with the Keri decision as it recommended that bottles and food not be shared. Sharing a juice bottle involved "salivary contact", which was a route for infectious disease transmission.

Wellington medical officer of health Margot McLean agreed and said drink sharing could spread respiratory viruses, stomach bug norovirus and cold sores. National MP Wayne Mapp, the party's "PC eradicator", said the fruit juice ruling pointed to an alarming trend. It reflected the "politically correct" drive to eliminate the public's exposure to the sorts of risks or offence that existed in everyday life.

"I suppose it's not hygienic to kiss one's wife or one's children too. If TV advertisers have to start thinking about that sort of thing then it seems to me we've kind of lost the plot here."