ASA bans Fat Bastard wine ads

An advert promoting French wine brand Fat Bastard has been banned by the Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) after complaints that it could cause “widespread offence” and be seen by young children.

Fat Bastard wines are produced in the Languedoc region of southern France

Two direct mail circulars were delivered to 175,000 homes, including a primary school, by UK supermarket Iceland which featured the “Fat Bastard” brand name on the front cover alongside the text: “Outrageous name, outrageously good wine”.

Four complaints were received by the ASA claiming that the language used in the ad was “likely to cause serious or widespread offence”, and that it was “inappropriately targeted, because it might be seen by young children.”

Iceland acknowledged that the name of the wine might be “controversial”, but that because it was a branded product they had no control over its name. The name was in fact derived from the winemaker who upon first tasting the wine exclaimed it was a “fat bastard” due to its full-bodied nature.

The ASA concluded that while the term “Fat Bastard” was “likely to be distasteful to some recipients”, was unlikely to cause “serious or widespread offence”, and dismissed the first aspect of the complaint.

Responding to claims that the advert was irresponsibly targeted as children likely to see it Iceland argued that there was “nothing particular about the design and arrangement” of the circular that would attract the attention of a child.

However the ASA on this count agreed with the complainant, noting that a “circular distributed to homes in an un-targeted manner was likely to be seen by young children” adding that its use of the term “Fat Bastard” was “unsuitable to be seen by young children and should not have featured on the outside covers of the circulars”.

Concluding that the advert had been “irresponsibly targeted”, the ASA ruled that it must not appear again in its current form.

The ASA received four complaints relating to this advert circulated to 175,000 homes by Iceland