Crown Paints: Hannah & Dave ad prompts dozens of complaints
- Published
Twitter users responding to Eclair said the ad was "offensive", "misogynistic" and a "serious error of judgement"
The advertising watchdog has received dozens of complaints about a paint advert which a comedian called "massively offensive".
The Advertising Standards Authority said it was considering investigating Crown Paints' "Hannah & Dave" advert.
Comic Jenny Eclair said it must be taken off air over its implication that a woman "conned a man into fatherhood".
Apologising for it, the Darwen-based paint firm said it appreciated "people have differing views on humour".
The advert, part of a series called Life Stories, includes a song about the four-year relationship between the characters Hannah and Dave.
The lyrics state that "now a baby's coming and they don't know what it is", before continuing: "Hannah's hoping for a girl, Dave's just hoping that it's his."
'Broadly well received'
Tweeting about the advert being "beyond mad", external, Eclair said the line was "massively offensive".
She added that Crown Paints needed to "get that offensive baby ad off air" as its creators had "basically... set up a scenario that implies a woman has possibly conned a man into fatherhood".
Replying, author and podcast host Daisy Buchanan said she welcomed Eclair's tweet, external as "I honestly thought it was me being mad".
Other Twitter users responding to Eclair's tweet said the advert was "offensive", "misogynistic" and a "serious error of judgement".
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In a statement, a spokeswoman for the paint firm said the series of ads were "intended to be a humorous celebration of special life moments that prompt people to paint their homes, in this case focusing on Hannah and Dave, a happy couple expecting a baby together".
"Whilst the ad has been broadly well received, we appreciate that people have differing views on humour and we apologise if any of the lyrics have caused offence," she added.
Reacting to the company's explanation, blogger and radio presenter Nickie O'Hara said their "gaslighting response" was "just abhorrent", external.
An Advertising Standards Authority spokeswoman said it had received 58 complaints about the advert and was "currently assessing [them] carefully to determine whether there are grounds for an investigation".
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