Black Widow
10-08-2008, 07:06 PM
The two American road movie-style ads for Oasis featured the Cactus Kid character and carried the slogan: "For people who don't like water."
In the first, the young female voice-over questioned her "mom's" ideas about right and wrong.
The daughter said: "Had to break it to her that me and my new man Cactus Kid only drink Oasis and don't mess around with no water."
She was then shown touching her stomach, prompting a bad reaction by her mother to her baby plans with Cactus Kid, who was green with cactus spikes covering his body.
The second ad featured the pair in a diner during their trip across the US and asking the waitress for Oasis instead of water.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it received 32 complaints from viewers about issues suggestions it condoned underage sex and teenage pregnancy.
People also objected to suggestions in the ads that Oasis was a substitute for water.
The watchdog upheld the complaints and said both commercials for the soft drink, made by Coca-Cola Great Britain, breached the advertising code.
Coca-Cola told the ASA the campaign was removed from reality, used edgy humour aimed at its target audience and was not intended to be offensive.
The company also said the Cactus Girl character was 20 and was played by a 22-year-old actress and that the ads did not discourage people from drinking water but promoted choice.
The ASA said that although Cactus Girl was not underage her youthful appearance would have led to many viewers seeing her as in her early teens.
sky news
In the first, the young female voice-over questioned her "mom's" ideas about right and wrong.
The daughter said: "Had to break it to her that me and my new man Cactus Kid only drink Oasis and don't mess around with no water."
She was then shown touching her stomach, prompting a bad reaction by her mother to her baby plans with Cactus Kid, who was green with cactus spikes covering his body.
The second ad featured the pair in a diner during their trip across the US and asking the waitress for Oasis instead of water.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it received 32 complaints from viewers about issues suggestions it condoned underage sex and teenage pregnancy.
People also objected to suggestions in the ads that Oasis was a substitute for water.
The watchdog upheld the complaints and said both commercials for the soft drink, made by Coca-Cola Great Britain, breached the advertising code.
Coca-Cola told the ASA the campaign was removed from reality, used edgy humour aimed at its target audience and was not intended to be offensive.
The company also said the Cactus Girl character was 20 and was played by a 22-year-old actress and that the ads did not discourage people from drinking water but promoted choice.
The ASA said that although Cactus Girl was not underage her youthful appearance would have led to many viewers seeing her as in her early teens.
sky news