WELLINGTON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – An initiative by New Zealand to prevent the spread of hepatitis C has run into trouble because one of its advertisements, which showed individuals raising the middle finger, was considered to be too obscene to air.
Ayesha Verrall, the associate health minister, launched the “Stick it to Hep C” campaign in July to spread awareness of the virus among the people, which claims the lives of about 200 people a year.
The online material, outdoor posters and videos of the campaign features actors raising the middle finger to the other person while grinning. The advertisement next shows an actor having a blood test done on his middle finger to check for blood-borne virus.
The Advertising Standards Authority, however, upheld a complaint that described the advertisement pictures as “deeply offensive,”Â
The complaint stated, the gesture was long recognised as ‘sign language’ signifying a sequence of extremely rude words, in short “F*%$ You!” It had no business being on a billboard or somewhere where children could see it.
The complaints board acknowledged that viewers of the advertisement were likely to comprehend that there is a simple finger prick test to check for exposure to hepatitis C and there is a new effective treatment, meaning you can say ‘Fuck you’ to hep C, most viewers were “likely to only focus on the hand gesture,” so the context would be lost for them.
The board disagreed with the advertiser that the smiling faces of the characters lessened any aggressive purpose and claimed that it was one of the most offensive gestures one could give to another person and always had negative overtones.
It acknowledged that the advertising violated guidelines by using an inappropriate and offensive hand gesture.
Nick Chamberlain, the national director of the Public Health Service, told the NZ Herald that the choice was “regrettable.”
He said that they regretted that the ASA believed they had not struck the proper balance on this occasion. They had no intention of creating widespread or serious offence with their choice of pictures for the campaign.Â
The photo with the middle finger has been swapped with a double thumbs up in the main campaign image, although the YouTube clip and the website for the ad still use the middle finger image.
