Ofcom goes down on Dave

Ofcom has rapped UKTV’s Dave over a sponsorship campaign for beer which had implications of oral sex.

The offending campaign for Bombardier – featuring Rik Mayall – ran from June to September around programmes including Mock The Week and Top Gear on the channel.
Thirteen people complained to Ofcom over the sponsorship titled ‘The Sweet Kiss of Summer!’ – it sees Bombardier (Mayall) looking into the camera and saying “Ah, the sweet kiss of Summer,” followed by a woman emerging from a blanket upon his lap. At this stage, the character says “Hello Summer.”
The complaints all stated that the campaign had a strong implication of oral sex.
UKTV – owned by BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks – said that it was mindful of the guidelines around advertising alcohol brands, which state that credits must in no way imply that consumption of alcohol increases the chances of success in any field.
However, the broadcaster argued that Dave’s male audience would consider the credit to be “amusing, ridiculous and cartoonish.”
UKTV also pointed out that the Bombardier remains fully clothed throughout and that there was “no movement under the blanket to demonstrate or suggest any sexual activity”.  It also stated that the campaign was only shown after 9pm.
However, Ofcom said that its guidelines clearly state the credits must not relate consumption of alcohol to sexual activity in any way.

“Whilst we accepted that the focus of the credit was the Bombardier character, Ofcom considered that this character, the Bombardier brand and Bombardier beer are clearly linked. The character and the product share the same name, and as the Licensee (UKTV) itself acknowledged, the character is presented as symbolising and embodying the brand.
“Ofcom concluded therefore that in this sponsorship credit the Bombardier character was intrinsically linked with an alcoholic drink, irrespective of the fact that the characters in the credit were not shown to be consuming alcohol.
“Ofcom also considered that the appearance of the woman from under the blanket in the Bombardier’s lap, and the script of this credit, clearly implied that the woman had been performing oral sex on the Bombardier.”