The ASA received 670 complaints against the ad, which claims the product is so easy to use that even men can clean the oven. The complaints claimed the ad portrays men as stupid and lazy. The ad, in which a voiceover comments ‘so easy even a man can do it', ends with the line: ‘No men were harmed in the making of this commercial'.
However, the ASA rejected the complaints, and said although some of the humour in the ad is in ‘poor taste' it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.
The company defended the ad, saying it intended to raise awareness of the product using tongue-in-cheek humour playing on natural gender differences.
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