Perhaps not the most subtle marketing slogan…

Ad
A press ad in Dirt Mountainbike, a specialist mountain and dirt biking magazine, featured a man crouching next to a mountain bike, making a ‘devil horns’ sign with his left hand. Text in the bottom right corner of the ad read: “YT-INDUSTRIES.COM F#*%ING GOOD BIKES!”

Issue
The complainant challenged whether the use of the slogan “F#*%ING GOOD BIKES!” was offensive and inappropriate, particularly in a publication likely to be read by children.

CAP Code (Edition 12)
4.1
Response
YT Industries said they developed and produced high-end mountain bikes for the extreme sport market. They said their customer target group was 16- to 30-year-olds and they targeted young people with a tolerant, open mind, who were focused on fun sports. They said the man featured in the ad was team rider Andreu Lacondeguy, who was one of the top mountain bikers in the world and was a hero for many mountain bikers. They said he was well known for performing the biggest tricks on his bike, as well as partying and listening to heavy metal. They said the slogan “f#*%ing good bikes” was intended to convey that they offered outstanding bikes and the slogan was used because they considered it would fit with and appeal to the target group. They said it was not their intention to provoke or insult any readers or to negatively affect children.

Factory Media said the slogan “f#*%ing good bikes” would be unlikely to cause any particular offence to readers of Dirt Mountainbike. They took the decision that the ad would not offend their readership as that style of language was commonly used within the community they serviced as a magazine. They said they reached more than 250,000 riders every month through multimedia platforms, which included a readership of over 70,000 through the magazine. They said the readership was 90% male, from 15 to 44 years, with a core age of 20 to 30 years and the average age of their readers was around 28 years old.

Assessment
Upheld

The ASA acknowledged that the magazine was targeted at young adult males, but noted the readership also included older teenagers. Because the ad was placed in a specialist mountain and dirt biking magazine, which was an activity which would appeal to children as well as adults, we considered that the ad was likely to be seen by some children. We therefore concluded that the use of the phrase “F#*%ING GOOD BIKES!” in that context was likely to cause serious or widespread offence to readers.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 4.1 (Harm and offence).

Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told the advertisers not to use language which was likely to offend in future ads.

So did the ad actually have ‘#*%’ or ‘uck’ in it?
Stupid ruling if the former.

Funny I just read a review of a YT Tues in Dirt and they said it was the best DH bike ever! Coincidence?

Well I can’t post a profanity so I had to type #*% instead of uck, but yes the ad did contain the word in full.

so I had to type #*% instead of uck

That’s swear filter avoidance that is, you could go down for a 3 stretch for that [days that is]

If you’d just typed ****, you have been fine, the swear filter would have filled it in with ***, as it is, you’re bang to rights on this one 🙂

oh – I see. I read the OP as that’s how the ad was written.
In that case, it’s one step too far I reckon. My boys would often read it over my shoulder and we still keep the f-word hidden from them.

That’s swear filter avoidance that is, you could go down for a 3 stretch for that [days that is]

Is true, you get told off for not swearing if you do that…

Readership of 70k?

🙂

I’d be a bit miffed at seeing the “whole” word in a general publication mag.
Too far.

DrP

last time I read dirt, I’m sure there was swearing in the text? Doesn’t bother me per se, but I always feel that it is a bit lazy.

Strange considering Dirt themselves use the eff word in their articles.

Rules for advertising and editorial are different though – and for good reason.

As has been pointed put in the past, we’re not allowed certain profanities on the forum but they appear in the magazine (which can be viewed via a link from the forum).

Mark – Resident Grumpy

Readership of 70k?

and growing as I was told yesterday…

How many folk read each copy (if you include bike shops, cafes and my dentists waiting room)?

70k copies per month or per year? Per year I might believe…

Rules for advertising and editorial are different though – and for good reason.

This, I understand. But if the work *&$£ is used throughout the mag, the the rationale to ban it from an ad because it is likely to cause offence falls over somewhat.

Why can’t people just be offended? Get over yourselves.

70k per month, why not? It’s sold worldwide and is generally considered a good read. Photographers getting the front cover shoot see it as a big deal.

70k per month….yep i can see it

German/swiis/austrian clients we have all read it and love it as their own mags are abit crap, and the photos are great, covers all disciplines that the young are into.

Readership isn’t copies sold. It’s Pairs of eyes per copy.
And the average readership per Mag is quite funny. More than 2 I think it used to be? More than three?

actually better not post it

Look at this weeks Front Page Poll. That’s quite a coincidence 😉

I stopped reading Dirt last year… just got fed up with how juvenile the writing is. Whatever they write about, it all comes across as a bunch of 16-year-olds “Orsum” clap-trap.

Haven’t seen the ad but I’d be interested to hear what slogan they run next time.

On the subject of 70.,000 readers… We print all sorts of mags with an average run of around 6k. One claims to have a monthly readership of near 300,000 despite us producing only 7,500 copies each issue. Massaging ABC figures is a great way to up the price of your advertising. Stick a few copies in waiting rooms and on some shop counters and you can claim silly figures.