Leading online bingo site has fallen foul of the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority watchdog over commercial featuring a ukulele player.
Monday 29th March 2010
A television advert for online bingo site Tombola.co.uk has fallen foul of the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) watchdog over claims that it presented a ‘negative racial stereotype’.
The commercial featured a white man wearing a dinner suit and sat next to a fire on a beach while alongside a black man in a floral top. The black man is portrayed playing a ukulele and repeating in song everything that is said by his counterpart.
Two complainants challenged whether the ad was likely to cause serious or widespread offence because they believed it presented a ‘negative racial stereotype’.
For its part, Tombola stated that it did not occur to it that the advert might be interpreted as presenting a ‘negative racial stereotype’ while revealing that it did not intend to use the commercial again in future.
“The ASA considered the humour in the ad was, in part, derived from the scenario of one character playing the ukulele while repeatedly singing the message delivered by the other,” read a statement from the ASA.
“We considered, however, the relationship between the two characters was defined as the power of the white man over the black man in which the white man was wearing a suit whereas the black man was casually dressed and was portrayed as less intelligent in that he repeated everything the white man said...”
“We noted that he seemed to look to the white man for reassurance or instruction suggesting that he lacked the confidence or intellect to behave otherwise. We considered that the ad could be interpreted as humiliating, stigmatising or undermining the standing of the black character and was, therefore, likely to cause serious offence.”
The ASA ruled that the advert must not be broadcast again in its current form while advising Tombola to ‘take care not to present negative racial stereotypes in future’.
