Wells & Youngs appeals Courage ad ban

Wells & Youngs is to appeal the ban on one of its poster ads for Courage.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned the poster, which received just three complaints - a decision labelled "odd" by W&Y's marketing director Chris Lewis.

The ad has the strapline "Take Courage My Friend" and shows a nervous man holding a glass and a can. A woman stands behind him in a figure-hugging dress with the sales label still attached.

Three members of the public complained that the poster implied that the beer would give the man confidence, or "Dutch courage", to either make negative comments about the woman's appearance or take advantage of her.

The ASA ruled the poster breached its code. "We considered that the combination of the text and the image of the man with an open beer can and half empty glass of beer was likely to be understood by consumers to carry the clear implication that the beer would give the man enough confidence to tell the woman that the dress was unflattering."

Lewis told the MA: "It's simply political correctness going mad.

"We are going to appeal against the decision because we are not happy with it and we don't agree with it.

"We are disappointed that it found in favour of three people. We must have had 3-4m people look at this campaign."

Lewis said consumer surveys showed customers took the ad to mean the woman is saying the classic line "does my bum look big in this?".

"The ad tries to convey he would rather be down the pub drinking Courage than having the dilemma [about how to answer] in the first place."

He said other ads in the series would continue.