Trident Chewing Gum Ads In The UK Pulled For Being Patronizing And Demeaning To Blacks

The British advertising watchdog agency found that TV spots for Trident chewing gum belittled blacks and Caribbean people, and must be pulled.

Trident's 'Mastication for the nation' TV campaign, created by JWT, received more than 500 complaints, some of which accused it of racism. The Advertising Standards Authority found that the four Trident ads did not incite racial intolerance, but did breach the broadcast TV advertising standards governing offence and ethnic stereotyping.

From Brand Republic:

The first ad, which invokes the spirit of "revolutionary poets", featured a West Indian dub poet on stage talking about the blandness of chewing gum. An audience member hands him an exciting new type of gum, which prompts him to launch into a journey that takes him onto a boat sailing past the Houses of Parliament, shouting "mastication for the nation" through a megaphone.

The ad has become one of the most complained about of the year, racking up 519 complaints. The ASA said that greater sensitivity was required of advertisers using humour based on accents, because of the "potential to cause serious offence" and in particular if it could be seen to be patronizing or demeaning to groups of people who suffer racial prejudice.

The ASA said: "The stereotype depicted in the ads had, unintentionally, caused deep offence to a significant minority of viewers and that many of those who complained to use were concerned that the negative stereotype could be perpetuated."

However, the watchdog rejected complaints about the Trident brand name. Viewers claimed that it was offensive because Trident is also the name used by the Metropolitan Police initiative to tackle black gun crime in London. It was not believed that there were complaints made about Trident also being the name of the UK's nuclear deterrent.