Car yard's 'MILF ad' banned after complaints

A New Zealand car yard has had its ad banned for 'sexual innuendo'.

Portage Cars’ is known for its comedic style of ads. In one recent ad, social media star Kiedis Haze told potential buyers that they would 'look like a MILF' driving a plug-in hybrid Mitsubishi Outlander.

In the video, Haze also made the comments 'doing the deed under the fireworks at New Year’s' and 'plug which matches the inserting action you’ve been getting'.

It's an interesting strategy to sell cars but it seems to work for the NZ company.

Well, except for this time.

Youtube/Portage Cars

The ad was ultimately pulled after someone made a formal complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority and claimed Portage Cars’ videos were “not only insulting but highly sexualised and not appropriate for a general audience in which it is promoted to”.

In the end, it was a different part of the complaint that saw the ad taken down.

“ … it also claims that the advertiser has the ‘Easiest finance in the world’ but has nothing to backup this claim other,” the complainant wrote to the Advertising Standards Authority.

In their response, Portage Cars said the video was not an advertisement, but 'a funny car review that generates social media and brand awareness'.

“Clearly the saying ‘easiest finance in the world’ was said in jest, saying something is the easiest in the world is a common turn of phrase in New Zealand,” the company wrote.

“The complainant has taken a light hearted, satirical car review seriously without understating the New Zealand sense of humour.”

The Authority ruled the ad was misleading due to its 'easiest finance in the world' claim and Portage Cars was ordered to take it down.

Portage Cars general manager, Craig Rutherford, told NZME the ruling was a good test case for what they can and can’t say in their marketing.

“We look at those videos as more of a review than an advertisement because we keep the details pretty minimal,” he said.

And they have every intention of continuing to make them.

“They’re working,” Rutherford said.

“If we’ve had a vehicle in stock for awhile we’ll do a review on it and it will sell pretty much straight away.”

“We’ve got customers asking where... (Haze) is all the time.”

We might just have to find another way to... look like a MILF.

Topics: News, World News, Cars

Keryn Donnelly