Trojan condom posters banned by UK ad authorities

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British advertising authorities said on Wednesday they have banned racy Trojan condom poster adverts with the phrase “Come online & play the sex organ.”

The UK Advertising Standards Authority said the phrase could cause “serious or widespread offence” and that the ads invited consumers to the company’s Web site, which linked to Trojan TV commercials unsuitable for people under the age of 18.

It also is requiring Carter Products, which owns the Trojan brand in the UK, to clear future ads with the industry’s self-regulatory body, a company official told Reuters.

The Authority, which received 41 complaints about the ads, “acknowledged the advertisers wanted to promote safe sex and considered that the posters would not promote promiscuity,” which were among the company’s defenses.

About 3,500 of the posters were put up around the UK over the summer. They were made to look like a women’s magazine cover with “Trojan” emblazoned where the title would be, and bold-letter headlines, including “Amazing! Secrets of Sexual Pleasure Revealed,” on a photo of a woman with her mouth agape.

“As a responsible advertiser, we respect the code,” said David Thompson, marketing director for Carter Products UK.

“We feel, however, as a responsible manufacturer of condoms, it is in our interest and the public’s interest to raise the awareness of the need for protection,” he said.

The poster ads were a continuation of an earlier campaign that included TV adverts, which were the subject of another review by media regulator Ofcom. It received 209 complaints after the ad ran during a July episode of “Coronation Street.”

The sexually suggestive advert ran after the 9 p.m. watershed during a later-than-usual episode of the long-running soap opera, which featured a gay storyline, as well as during the often-bawdy reality show “Big Brother.”

Ofcom cleared the ad but required Carter Products to run such material during programs with a more suitable target audience than the mostly older viewers of “Coronation Street.”

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