People with red hair can be racially vilified, and were by an ad for ginger ale, Ad Standards has ruled.
The ad, launched by Carlton United Breweries in February for the company's craft ginger ale (which is apparently a thing) Rusty Yak, was for a competition the company ran in conjunction the release of the ale. Those who found a randomly-placed bottle of the ginger ale among one of the company's regular six-pack Yak range of beers, would win $500.
Fifteen and 30-second versions of the ad were made. In the 30-second ad the company claims that a ginger gene has been discovered, and features images of people with red hair, along with the line that the bottles need to be found to "stop the spread of the gene".
One complaint to Ad Standards described the ad as "offensive, racist, and encouraging bullying of a minority group. It is a disgraceful [sic]".
Another said: "It’s very offensive for the advertisement to be discriminating against those with red hair, suggesting that they need to ‘stop the gene spreading’ as if it were some sort of disease. Children already get bullied at school for having red hair, and advertisements like this only further encourage that type of bullying."
CUB defended the ad, stating that people with red hair are not a race or ethnicity, and even if they were, they were not discriminated against, or vilified by, the ad.
"The advertisements simply seek to associate the launch of the Rusty Yak Ginger Ale product with red heads in our community in an affectionate, light-hearted and humorous way by linking the hair colour with the ‘crisp and zingy Rusty Yak gingery flavour’ as stated in the advertisements," CUB said.
Ad Standards disagreed. Because CUB had referred to a "ginger gene" in the ad, and referenced red hair as an hereditary trait, it could be considered that people with red hair fall within the definition of race, as detailed by the standards code.
While Ad Standards argued that most of the ad was positive towards redheads, the inclusion of the "stop the spread of the gene" line "made a strong suggestion that an identifiable group of the population was to be considered unpopular."
The panel ruled that only the 30-second version of the ad racially vilified and discriminated against red haired people.
CUB said in response it didn't agree with the decision, but that it would remove the ad from broadcast.
It's not the first time redheads have complained about being vilified in advertising. In 2010, the advertising watchdog dismissed a complaint about a VicRoads ad claiming using mobile phones while driving causes "gingas" to sleep with each other. In 2012 it ruled that a 7-Eleven ad claiming someone would be "less popular than a redheaded step child" overstepped the mark.