The brand says that it has listened to the consumer complaints and toned down the sexual references in its new TV spots, which will air during ‘Coronation Street’ on ITV on Monday 5 May at 20:45.
But the new spots, which were created by 438 Marketing and feature the same female model that appeared in the previous campaign, still employ sexual innuendo.
In the new ads, the model talks in a sultry voice about "that feeling you get when something’s great" adding that "you can touch it, hold it, even see it" before the camera switches to a shot of VIP’s products and a narrator gives an assurance about the product’s quality.
Dave Levin, one of VIP’s co-founders, said: "While the first ad was successful in that it raised a huge amount of awareness for us, we’re all about taste, so we recognised the need to respond to the complaints with our new creative output.
"We’ve toned it down, as consumer opinion is very important to us, and also made the product more of the star, to show the range of accessories and flavours available."
In VIP’s previous campaign, which was released at the end of 2013, the female model said to the camera "I want you to get it out, I want to see it, I want to feel it, hold it, put it in my mouth".
Another spot in the same campaign featured a male model who said: "Do you want to see it? I can get it out if you’d like".
The previous campaign was also created by 438 Marketing.
The ASA received 1,156 complaints that the ads were overly sexual and irresponsibly promoted a smoking-related product. In response the ASA held that the ads must not be shown on TV before 11pm.
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