ASA upholds Spitfire Italian surrender complaints
A complaint about ads for Spitfire Ale which showed Italian footballers surrendering with cries of 'don't shoot' have been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.
Complaints were received about three ads which ran in a campaign in the Evening Standard.
One ad stated "One pistol shot and 46,000 people start running. Yes, it's the Italian army."
A second ad was in the style of a cartoon strip of a football match.
The text said "It's Italy's first match ... HERE COME THE ITALIANS WHAT A TERRIFYING BUNCH But as the opposition launch their first attack ..." The final picture in the strip featured several of the Italian players on their knees and waving a pair of shorts as a white flag. A speech bubble contained the words "DON'T SHOOT! DON'T SHOOT! WE SURRENDER!".
A third ad stated "Italian linesman" and featured an image of a football linesman's white flag.
The complainants, several of whom were of Italian descent, objected that the ads were offensive.
Shepherd Neame said the ads were part of the longstanding Spitfire campaign that contained light hearted jokes using subject matter related to the Second World War.
They said subjects were selected because they were humorous, without being likely to cause serious offence.
However, the ASA upheld the complaints and said: "We considered that the reference to the Italians surrendering during the Second World War and the implication that Italians were generally cowardly was likely to cause serious or widespread offence. We asked Shepherd Neame not to repeat the approach."
