Quiksilver Takes Back Dirty Word

After complaints about Quiksilver’s use of their old “If you can’t rock ‘n’ roll, don’t fucken come” tagline on a newsletter sign-up page on their Australian website reached New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Authority they weren’t too happy about it, according to a story on the National Business Review.

A complainant said the foul language is “unacceptable”, particularly as the brand is well-known among youth in New Zealand. . . However, the Complaints Board upheld the complaint, saying the brand appealed to under-18s and that the move to add in asterisks would not suffice to alter the meaning of the term.

Quiksilver complied and changed the image on the sign up page to a much more pleasant “Sign Up Now.” For the entire December 2010 decision and a peek into New Zealand rather silly advertising rules, follow the jump.
DECISION

Meeting 8 December 2010

Complaint 10/622

Complainant: G. Grant
Advertisement: UG Manufacturing CO. PTY. LTD

Complaint: The website advertisement for Quiksilver featured the text “IF YOU CAN’T ROCK ‘N’ ROLL DON’T FUCKEN COME”.

Complainant, G. Grant, said:

Type: Website
Where: Quiksilver website 07/10/10
Although website is Australian based, one is directed there when entering www.quiksilver.co.nz.

The actual page is a free subscription page to enable customers, to sign-up for information on the brand in the future.

http://www.quiksilver.com.au/SIGN_UP/default.aspx#/SIGN_UP
Who: Quiksilver
Product: Sign Up

Complaint –
The foul language on a particular page of the site is unacceptable, especially for a brand that is well known to children in New Zealand.

There is no method of contact with the company that I could find to complain directly to them.

The Chairman ruled that the following provisions were relevant:

Code of Ethics

Basic Principle 4: All advertisements should be prepared with a due sense of social responsibility to consumers and to society.

Rule 5: Offensiveness – Advertisements should not contain anything which in the light of generally prevailing community standards is likely to cause serious or widespread offence taking into account the context, medium, audience and product (including services).

The Advertiser, UG Manufacturing CO. PTY. LTD, said:

We thank you for the opportunity to respond to the complaint received by the Advertising Standards Authority in relation to the Quiksilver advertisement (“Advertisement”) which appeared on the subscription page of www.quiksilver.com.au (“Website”).

By way of background, the Advertisement is a re-creation of one of Quiksiiver’s iconic advertisements from the 1980’s which appeared throughout Australia and New Zealand without any complaints (that we are aware of). The iconic advertisement featured leading surfers of the time wearing Quiksilver boardshorts, drinking beer and standing on an old car, with the unabashed proclamation “If you can’t rock n roll don’t fucken come.” The statement was one of irreverence which resonated with surfers and reflected the brand’s ethos. The statement has been used several times since, and we believe that a significant portion of Quiksiiver’s consumers associate the statement with Quiksilver and as such it has become a part of our “DNA”.

It is not in our interest to offend members of the public and we certainly don’t aim to do so. On this occasion, the complainant has taken offence to the language used in the Advertisement which of course we regret. Taking into account the irreverent manner in which the Advertisement and the statement contained in it was intended, we do not believe that it undermines the due sense of social responsibility required by Basic Principle 4 of the Code of Ethics. While the Advertisement has caused offence to the complainant, we do not believe that if judged by prevailing community standards it is likely to cause serious or widespread offence (particularly taking into account the context, medium and audience of the Advertisement) and therefore should not be considered offensive under Rule 5 of the Code of Ethics.

While we do not believe that we have failed in our duty to members of the public, we do take the complaint seriously and as a result we have temporarily removed the Advertisement from the Website and we are in the process of amending the language by replacing “fucken” with “f*cken.” We believe this editing will reduce the likelihood of individuals taking offence with the Advertisement, and that this edited version will be within the parameters set out in Basic Principle 4 and Rule 5, given prevailing community standards and the norms of language used in society and various forms of media. We hope you will find this acceptable.

Finally, the advertisement was developed by Ug Manufacturing Co Pty Ltd (a related entity of Ug Manufacturing Co (NZ) Limited) and we are not aware of the involvement of any advertising agencies in the creation and/or placement of the advertisement.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you need anything further.

Deliberation

The Complaints Board carefully read all correspondence in relation to the complaint, and viewed a copy of the advertisement. It noted that the Complainant, G. Grant, was of the view that the foul language in the advertisement was inappropriate.

The Chairman directed the Complaints Board to consider the complaint with reference to Basic Principle 4 and Rule 5 of the Code of Ethics. This required the Complaints Board to consider whether or not the advertisement had been prepared with a due sense of social responsibility. It was also required the Complaints Board to consider whether or not the advertisement, in the light of generally prevailing community standards, was likely to cause serious or widespread offence taking into account the context, medium, audience and product.

Turning to the advertisement, the Complaints Board noted that the advertisement was displayed on the Quiksilver website. It considered that Quiksilver was a brand that appealed to all ages having a large target market, but with a particular appeal to those under 18 years of age. It further considered that the website (being the medium in which the advertisement was displayed) was likely to be viewed by a wide range of viewers, including, those under the age of 18.

The Complaints Board noted that the Advertiser proposed to take the following action, where it stated “While we do not believe that we have failed in our duty to members of the public, we do take the complaint seriously and as a result we have temporarily removed the Advertisement from the Website and we are in the process of amending the language by replacing “fucken” with “f*cken.”” The Complaints Board referred to Decision 09/098 and said that the proposed amended version with the letters and the symbol, in the context of the advertisement, would largely be understood by consumers to be an offensive swear word and, therefore, did not alter the meaning of the term already displayed on the website.

The Complaints Board then turned to address the issue of the language used in the advertisement and took into account that the word “fuck” had rated seventh in the most recent Broadcasting Standards Authority survey of “Acceptability of Words on Television and Radio”, which was a useful guide in the acceptability of the term in society. The Complaints Board considered that the advertisement was likely to cause serious offence in light of generally prevailing community standards, given the offensive nature of the term and the wide range of people that could potentially view the advertisement (particularly those under the age of 18 years of age). Accordingly, the Complaints Board was of the view that the advertisement was in breach of Rule 5 of the Code of Ethics. It also considered that the advertisement had not been prepared with a due sense of social responsibility as required by Basic Principle 4 of the Code of Ethics.

The Complaints Board ruled to uphold the complaint.

Decision: Complaint Upheld