‘Dog breath’ ad axed


A CHEWING gum advertisement in which a dog is retched out of a man's mouth, intended as a ‘humorous’ way of showing how the gum can get rid of ‘dog breath’, was taken off air on Monday this week.

The commercial for Wrigley's X-cite gum prompted 570 complaints in 10 days, the highest recorded for a television advertisement. The Independent Television Commission (ITC) which fielded the complaints, said that many said their children had been frightened by the commercial.

Wrigley’s attempted to shrug off the criticism, saying that "only a minute percentage" of viewers found it offensive, but were forced into a humiliating climb-down by ITC bosses who insisted that the advertisement be axed.


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