The Advertising Standards Authority has banned an advert from vegan charity Viva for being likely to cause serious and widespread offence.
The ad, which appeared on Meta platforms and game apps in May, featured a woman eating raw offal and blood from a corner-style yoghurt labelled “Killer Yoghurt. Flavoured with a mother’s grief”.
The woman in the video was shown smiling and taking a spoonful of bloody and raw offal. Blood then drips from her mouth.
The voiceover over the advert said: “New from Killer yoghurts, the umbilical cord flavour. Produced with only the finest ingredients, the stolen milk of grieving mothers. Taste the torment in every mouthful. Blended with brutality. Be complicit, with Killer yoghurts.”
An indoor dairy farming shed filled with cows was then featured in the ad.
Complaints to the regulator challenged whether the ads were likely to cause unnecessary distress and serious and widespread offence; and irresponsibly targeted because they had been seen by children. Both complaints were upheld.
Viva said the ad was a theatrically staged parody and that viewers would understand that the blood was not real and it wanted to expose aspects of dairy farming that consumers did not see. The charity also said it had targeted adults in the release of this advert.
“The ad must not appear again in the form complained about,” said an ASA spokesperson.
“We told Viva to ensure future ads were prepared responsibly, were appropriately targeted and did not contain graphic scenes or language that were likely to cause unjustified distress to viewers.”
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