Britain’s advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority, has said ads for Mattesons smoked sausage “cause harm to children.” How could an ad for spicy encased meat do that? Well, consider the dialogue in the radio ads:
“Think about all the things you can stick this tasty, extraordinarily large sausage in. Mmm… Pizza, pasta, stir fry. You have any ideas? Give me a call and tell me where you like to stick it,” one advert said.
Twenty-one listeners complained, saying the sexual innuendos were offensive and the ads shouldn’t be aired when children could be listening. Kerry Foods, which makes Mattesons sausage, said the ads were meant to be tongue-in-cheek, not offensive. The watchdog group didn’t agree that the ads were sexually explicit but ruled that the ads shouldn’t be aired when children were likely to be listening.