ALDI's 2023 Christmas campaign ‘Go Big on the Little Things’ has breached AANA's Code of Ethics for a scene featuring a person barbecuing inside.
The TV advertisement received multiple complaints of violence and health & safety concerns.
Three scenes raised concerns including, a driver being pulled over by police with what looks to be blood on his face and hands but is actually strawberry, giant singing roast potatoes with faces and a person using a BBQ inside a house.
"It's unnecessary and in poor taste, particularly given all the heartache going on in the world," one complaint stated.
"The ad shows a chopped head on a dining table. It is offensive and frightens little kids. It's inappropriate as a Christmas food table set up.
"A police officer pulling over and elderly man with what appears to be blood on his hands, in his beard and on the steering wheel. The advert is making light of something terrible in order to make a (sick) joke that uses strawberry juice.
"Aldi christmas ad shows a persons face on a roast potato. The roast potato has a skin texture which offends me. I have a severe skin condition and PTSD. The aldi ad makes me relive all the pain of my own skin condition and hospital stay. I contacted Aldi HQ and they just laughed at me."
In response ALDI rejected that its ad breaches any AANA Code of Ethics including 2.6 health and safety, 2.1 discrimination and 2.3 violence, because the brand typically uses quirky, exaggerated or fantastical elements mixed with relatable humour.
"Each of these clips is clearly different from reality given their quirky, exaggerated and/or fantastical elements. ALDI is of the view that is unlikely they would be considered realistic by the audience because they are so far-fetched and over the top that they are unbelievable," the brand stated.
ALDI denies that the ad encourages unsafe use of an outdoor bbq indoors on account of its quirky, exaggerated and/or fantastical elements.
"The primary focus of the clip is on the roaring oversized flames of the bbq engulfing the ‘overcooked’ sausages," the brand said.
"These exaggerated elements together with the too attendees in the background stood under a smoke alarm madly flapping tea towels are what contribute to the unbelievable nature of the clip. When considered in the entirety of the advertisement with all its exaggerated and/or fantastical elements, this clip is even more unbelievable."
ALDI also denies the ad features severed heads and that the clip is offensive to children.
"[It's] just a singing potato with a quirky animated human face. Consequently, there is no depiction, suggestion or impression of any violence or menace that could cause alarm or distress," the brand said.
While the Ad Standards Panel agreed that many of the scenes contained fantastical and unrealistic elements and therefore dismissed the 2.1 discrimination and 2.3 violence breaches.
The panel found the scene with the barbeque to not contain the same level of fantasy, and as a result found the ad to breach the AANA Code of Ethics 2.6 health and safety.
"The use of barbeques indoors is inherently unsafe, due to the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning and fire danger. The actions of both the man, and the people in the background attempting to fan smoke away from the smoke alarm, are not unrealistic or fantastical," the panel said.
"While the intent of this scene is to be light-hearted and comedic, this is a dangerous action which should not be encouraged or made light of - people have been seriously injured and killed by the use of barbeques indoors, and that this ad could be taken as a suggestion that this is an acceptable location to cook if the weather outside is not OK."
Overall, the panel considered that the depiction of indoor barbequing was contrary to prevailing community standards on safety
ALDI is reviewing its media plan and will remove any future live dates for the 60” Christmas TV ad, noting that the 30 second edit does not include the barbequing scene.
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