People call for 'offensive' Crown Paints advert to be banned as it attracts hundreds of complaints

A Crown Paints advert which has attracted over 200 complaints and been slammed as 'offensive' by some is facing calls to be banned.

The ad tells the sing song story of Hannah and Dave, who get together at an illegal rave (sadly not shown in the ad) and a few years later decide to have some kids.

The controversy has been kicked up over the lyric 'Hannah's hoping for a girl, Dave's just hoping that it's his', which some viewers found 'offensive'.

Over 200 complaints have been lodged against the ad, with some decrying it as an example of 'everyday sexism' for the insinuation that Hannah may not have been entirely faithful to Dave.

They report that one of the most prominent voices slamming the advert is comedian Jenny Eclair, who took to Twitter to launch a tirade against the ad.

She asked Crown Paints 'what were you thinking' and 'what on earth possessed you' to make the advert.

She went on to say that the advert 'implies a woman has possibly conned a man into fatherhood', and others also piled in with their criticism of the ad and the weird story it chose to tell.

Someone slammed the advert as 'abhorrent' and said they wished they'd been in the room when it was being planned.

More people said it was 'misogynistic' and a 'serious error of judgment' on the part of Crown Paints.

However, others have hit back at the criticism of the ad as overblown and unnecessary, with one person saying it was a 'joke' that people were calling for the advert to be banned.

Another argued that it had been the target of 'confected outrage'.

More said there was no such thing as 'bad publicity' and suggested the advert was doing exactly what it was designed to do by getting more attention.

A few got quite invested in the story and called for a follow up of Hannah and Dave's story where they went for a paternity test to get the matter settled once and for all.

Crown Paints soon responded to the criticism by saying their advert was meant to 'give a humorous account' of a story.

They said they 'appreciate' people have various tastes when it comes to what's funny and apologised if anyone had been offended by what they saw.

The full story of Hannah and Dave only appears in the minute long extended version of the advert, which could become the norm in the UK as Ofcom are considering longer advert breaks.

At the end of the day it's an advert, the people singing are all wearing yellow like they're in some weird cult and at the end it turns out they're tiny imaginary people sitting on a roller brush.

Luckily it's not real, there is no Hannah and Dave and there is no colony of tiny people wearing yellow living on their paintbrush, especially not since they'd all be crushed to death the moment anyone used it.

Now that would be a memorable advert.

Featured Image Credit: Crown Paints

Topics: TV and Film, UK News, News

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker