The ARB gave the greenlight to a brandy advertisement featuring actor Ian Roberts following complaints that it promoted excessive drinking.
Image: Wildebeest Brandewyn website
Two members of the public have lodged complaints with the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) over a brandy advertisement that they believe promotes excessive drinking. The advert's slogan was: “The more you get, the happier you are”
According to the complainants, the advert promoted excessive drinking, as it linked alcohol to happiness.
The ARB, however, found the commercial did pass muster as it did not actively encourage irresponsible drinking, as the characters in it were not shown to be drunk or behaving recklessly.
While the ARB’s directorate dismissed the complaints, it commented that this commercial could have been more thoughtfully scripted in this regard and called on the advertiser to proceed cautiously with future commercials.
The commercial opens on two men – one younger and one older – sitting together on the front “stoep” of what appears to be a South African farmhouse.
The older man is playing the harmonica and calls on the younger man to fetch him “a fresh one”. The older man, referred to as grandpa, then remarks (with the can in his hand): “You know, Kleinjan, brandy is like love – the more you get, the happier you are.”
The commercial promotes Wildebeest Brandy and features the “witty” grandfather as portrayed by well-known actor Ian Roberts.
The first complainant, as a registered addiction counsellor, submitted that the commercial sent an “extremely dangerous and false message”.
She stated that in her line of work, she witnessed the misery alcohol caused in people’s lives. Her concern with the commercial was that it promoted the idea that alcohol added value to your life.
An additional complainant stated that she felt that the advertisement encouraged binge drinking, with the wording encouraging consumers to consume more brandy, implying that they would be happier.
The advertiser, Bundu Brands, defended the advertisement and said it was light-hearted humour and the wording was not presented as a factual, scientific, medicinal, therapeutic, or objectively verifiable claim.
It said the advert does not depict or encourage irresponsible drinking, nor does it suggest that alcohol had curative qualities.
It also does not depict alcohol as solving personal problems, overcoming inhibitions, or enabling social acceptance.
“At most, it uses a humorous metaphor as part of a fictional exchange,” it said.
The advertiser asserted that, viewed in context, a reasonable viewer would understand the statement as playful banter and exaggerated humour, rather than the literal promise that consuming more alcohol would make a person happier or improve their circumstances.
The directorate said it does experience significant discomfort at the final message of the commercial – that “the more (brandy) you get, the happier you are” – and accepted the concerns of the two complainants in the South African context, where binge drinking was a serious problem.
There is no doubt that the line could have been more carefully scripted to avoid any implication of condonation of over-indulgence.
However, upon weighing up the narrative of the commercial and the general behaviour of the two characters against the single problematic statement, the directorate concluded that it was highly unlikely that the audience would take any part of the message to heart.