Kronenbourg 'knives and bubbles' ad is cleared
Scottish & Newcastle UK has escaped censure from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over a Kronenbourg TV ad involving chefs cutting up bubbles with knives.
Eight views complained that the ad encouraged or condoned violence and linked alcohol with aggressive or antisocial behaviour.
The ad showed a number of French professional chefs in a kitchen while the song 'The Beat Goes On', by the All Seeing I, played.
The chefs carried a very large bubble to a work surface, while one chef said "I want small bubbles, you know".
The ad then showed the chefs using culinary knives to rapidly slice the bubbles into smaller bubbles. Other utensils were also used, including a grater, to reduce the bubbles in size.
One scene showed a chef looking into the camera using a small knife to pop three bubbles. Another showed a different chef moving quickly towards the camera holding a knife and bursting a bubble in mid-air.
The ad ended with a close-up of the bubbles in a pint of the lager. The on-screen text stated: "Smaller bubbles. Smoother taste".
Scottish & Newcastle said the context of the ad was important and pointed out that knives were legitimate tools for chefs practising their trade.
They felt that the role of the knives in the ad was clearly defined and they were used to chop and slice bubbles in a similar manner to food in a professional kitchen. They were not being used as weapons in any way.
An ASA decision just published, rejecting the complaints, states: "The ASA understood that there were serious concerns about knife crime, particularly in light of a number of recent high-profile stabbings.
"We did not dismiss those concerns lightly, however we considered that the ad showed knives in an entirely different context.
"We considered that the knives were not depicted as weaponry and the chefs did not engage in threatening, violent or antisocial behaviour whilst using the knives.
"We considered that the context of the knives being used in a working environment, coupled with the somewhat surreal scenario of chefs chopping and cutting bubbles as if they were foodstuffs detracted from any sense of realism the ad may have had.
"We acknowledged that, used responsibly, knives were a legitimate tool of the trade for professional chefs, and we considered that viewers were unlikely to view the ad as portraying the knives as weapons in the context shown.
"Although the ad was shot in such a way as to give the impression of a high-energy environment, we noted that the chefs did not appear aggressive or antisocial at any stage.
"We concluded that the ad was unlikely to encourage or condone violence, or link alcohol with aggressive or antisocial behaviour.
"We noted that the scenes which showed the chefs using their knives did not show any of the characters drinking alcohol and we considered that it did not give the impression that they were working under the influence of alcohol.
"We concluded that the ad was unlikely to be seen as linking drinking with an activity which was potentially dangerous after the consumption of alcohol."
The ASA found that, because it used a 1998 dance track which was itself a cover of a 1967 hit, and the chefs were not shown playing with the knives or acting in a juvenile manner while in the possession of knives, it was unlikely that under 18s would have seen the ad. It would not have had a strong appeal with them, the ad ruled.
