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John Lewis' controversial home insurance ad has received 337 complaints, and counting, according to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ad watchdog confirmed that as of yesterday (18 October), it is still assessing the complaints.
The ad in question – created by Adam & Eve/DDB – depicted a boy rocking out to Stevie Nicks' Edge of Seventeen, while dressing up in his mother's clothes with a face load of badly applied make-up.
Causing quite a stir, the ad in question has polarised opinion, with the ASA reporting five main areas that complainants took issue with.
Some objected that a boy is dressed in female clothing and wearing make-up. Others objected that the ad sexualises a child, noting that the child made provocative movements and poses and objected that these would be perceived to be sexualised had the child been female.
The other area for complaint concerns the child being spoilt – some people found issue with the ad encouraging children to be destructive and behave however they want because insurance will cover it.
Then, despite by its home insurance, a number of people challenged whether the ad is misleading as they didn't believe that the deliberate damage would be covered by an accidental damage insurance policy.
Many of you have contacted us regarding the thinking behind our latest Home Insurance advert. Please find our response below:
— John Lewis & Partners (@JohnLewisRetail)
With people's growing concerns over unnecessary waste, some people noted that at a time when we should be conscious about protecting the environment, the ad encourages waste, particularly when throwing the glitter and the paint.
The ad comes second in the most-complained-about stakes, after Ryanair's controversial and misleading "Jab and go" campaign, which received 2,370 complaints in February of this year.
But to put things in perspective, the most complained about ad of 2019 was GoCompare's car-crash ad, which received 336 complaints.