Twix TV advert banned after complaints it | Tech News

A TV advert for the fashionable chocolate bar Twix has been banned following complaints it encourages unsafe driving. The advert, known as Two is More Than One, options a 70s-style car chase with a man with long hair in a caramel-coloured car driving by way of a rocky panorama, with winding roads.

He spots one other driver pursuing him in his rearview mirror and speeds up earlier than cranking the handbrake, swerving off the right-hand facet of the highway, and rolling sideways by way of a metallic barrier. The driver seems unperturbed because the car rolls down the hill earlier than coming to a stop and touchdown on prime of an equivalent car on the backside of the hill.

The two automobiles are seen stacked on prime of each other, roof to roof, with the identical man apparently in each vehicles.

The prime driver’s Twix bar drops by way of the sunroof into the fingers of the underside driver, and the pair each push the gear stick on the ground stage car and drive away.

Five complaints had been made to the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) alleging that the advert was irresponsible and inspired harmful driving.

Confectionary giant Mars-Wrigley, which owns Twix, argued that the advert “was set in a separate world that was absurd, fantastical and removed from reality,” and so they ensured that the acts depicted within the sequence “would be impossible to recreate”, Sky News studies.

The company, which additionally owns manufacturers like Maltesers and M&Ms, stated the vehicles “were shot driving at lawful speeds and any emulation would only reflect the legal and safe driving presented”.

Mars-Wrigley additionally famous that the advert mirrored the playful and absurd humour the Twix model is understood for.

Clearcast, the NGO that gives approval for adverts earlier than they hit screens within the UK instructed the watchdog that the type of the video made it clear to audiences that the actions depicted weren’t meant to be emulated, and stated the advert didn’t recommend “safe driving was boring,” as per BBC News.

But although the watchdog accepted that the video featured “some clearly fantastical elements,” it determined to uphold the complaints, saying in its ruling that the adverts “must not appear again in their current form”.

“We considered the road was clearly realistic,” the ASA stated. “The scenes were depicted as a chase with the emphasis on speed. In addition, the first man was then shown putting the handbrake on and the car swerved off the road leaving visible skid marks.

“We thought of the emphasis on a chase, and the velocity inherent to that, and the driving manoeuvres featured can be harmful and irresponsible if emulated in actual life on a public freeway.”

The ASA said in its ruling, it told Mars-Wrigley “to not condone or encourage irresponsible driving that was prone to breach the legal necessities of the Highway Code of their adverts.”

A Mars Wrigley UK spokesperson said: “We always take pride in maintaining high standards across all our communications and every advert we produce is submitted for approval through the appropriate review channels.

“In our view, this specific advert adopts a fantastical tone that’s neither lifelike nor meant to be imitated.

“Nonetheless, we take our responsibility as an advertiser seriously and never intended to cause any offence or concern, so we are reviewing the ruling carefully in order to work collaboratively towards a resolution.”