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Foster's ad cleared of bad taste
Commission says ad showing crocodile biting off man's head clearly humorous
Aug 21, 2003 - A television commercial for Foster's beer that shows a crocodile apparently biting off a bungee jumper's head has been cleared by Britain's advertising watchdog despite more than 180 complaints. The home video-style ad, promoting a new pouring system intended to give drinkers a consistent head on their pint, sparked a flood of complaints to the Independent Television Commission.
Most of the 186 complainants said they were startled by the ad and found it in bad taste, while some parents said their children were upset when it was screened during the film Jurassic Park. The commercial shows "Big Doug" making a bungee jump from a crane above a river, only to have a crocodile lunge at him, apparently biting his head off as he hits the water. It ends with the voice-over: "New Foster's hit tap. Don't lose your head." Viewers complained that the camcorder style used made them believe it was real. However, the ITC said it was clearly humorous, and Jurassic Park included much more graphic and gory scenes. "The idea of a decapitation during a bungee jump might be startling but the actual images were not graphic, bloody or realistic. Nor were they in close-up," a statement from the commission read.
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