I saw this advert the other day while watching television. It’s for a chocolate bar called Kidy (i.e. kid, child). I just stared at it with my mouth open. What on earth was the marketing company thinking/smoking/drinking when they came up with the idea to have an adult woman enter an lift with a teenage boy and, well, just watch the advert to find out:
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The slogan at the end just adds to the whole thing: ‘vredi probati’ with the image of the chocolate bar named Kidy – ‘It’s worth trying a….Kidy’ ?! I honestly can’t believe it. What a ridiculous advert!
Ok, perhaps he just ate a bit of the chocolate bar and got it round his mouth and then gave the rest to the woman – but then what’s the deal with all the sexual innuendo at the beginning and the rather gobsmacked boy at the end?
Judging by the YouTube comments and other sites in the Serbian blogosphere, the advert hasn’t gone down too well in Serbia with it being branded as paedophilic and disgusting, with calls for it to be banned. The legal age in Serbia for consensual sex is 14 years old -but still, is this suitable for an advert?
What do you think of this advert? Should it be banned?
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on Oct 16th, 2008 at 1:51 am
Hey, that’s not so bad as it could have been. Imagine if they made an ad where there was an underage girl in the elevator and an older man coming in to have some “kidy”…
on Oct 16th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Yeah, you’re quite right. If it were an older male and a young girl, then there would be even more outrage, I’m sure.
on Oct 17th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Funny though, I know what Victor is saying, but why should it be any more acceptable that it’s a boy. Maybe because we are supposed to be impressed with a young lad “pulling” an older woman.
A few teenage friends of mine also told me about this ad and they were also shocked and thought it was out of order, so I can definitely see it being pulled. But the damage is done and sales of the chocolate will no doubt skyrocket…
Incidentally, Kidy are basically a very good copy of Mars, Snickers and a couple of other top chocolates. But I would have to concur, this ad is cheap, nasty and shows either incredible cynicism or incredible naivety on the part of its producers.
on Oct 20th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Good point, Mark. It does seem that it is more acceptable for a young male teenager to pull an older woman rather than the other way round. It should certainly not be the case.
I suppose people see males, regardless of age, as being stronger and therefore there is less need to protect them; put a female teenager into the equation and people are more shocked, crying out that she’s too young to fully understand the situation.
Kidy, the chocolate sounds pretty tasty – but I’m not going to buy it until they make a new advert!
on Oct 22nd, 2008 at 9:27 am
I think it’s idea that the advertisers knew they could get away with it that’s so shocking. The channel playing the ad obviously have fairly elastic guidelines on taste and morality, so is there any Serbian equivalent of the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (almost useless as that is)?
on Oct 24th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Hi Owen,
I’m not entirely sure there is such a organised body as the UK’s Advertising Standards Authoriity here in Serbia, but I do think there are ways to complain about something shown on TV.
I haven’t seen the advert again since I caught it before writing this post – perhaps it’s been pulled from broadcast now.
on Oct 24th, 2008 at 10:16 am
It must have been the storm of protest from Balkan File readers..!
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