The campaign, created by HHCL/Red Cell, featured different characters reading out instructions on how to make Pot Noodle in an excited tone of voice. The more they read, the more excited they sounded, until the end of the ad where they were crying out passionately "stir again, stir again".
The ads featured different straplines, including: "Pot Noodle. The curious cheerleader of all snacks"; "Pot Noodle. The lonely housewife of all snacks"; and another, which featured a man and a woman with German accents, describing the food as "the filthy fraulein of all snacks".
Four complaints were received about the campaign, after it was broadcast when children were listening to the radio.
The ads had initially been cleared by the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre, which considered the references oblique and that children would not understand. While the agency admitted the campaign parodied "dated soft pornography", it said that it was clear that it was Pot Noodle exciting people.
The Advertising Standards Authority has found that the ads were in breach of the code because they were sexually suggestive and, therefore, inappropriate to be broadcast at times when children could be listening.
Pot Noodle has been in trouble over its advertising before and has seen one of its slogans, "the slag of all snacks", banned after hundreds of complaints.
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