Agreed.
In fact given the rules governing TV advertising (or fear of litigation), in some cases it's a miracle anything funny or creative is made, especially in some sectors like alcohol.

If I remember rightly (and my memory may make the details sketchy), the rules governing advertising beer are something like:

- nobody can be younger than 25 in an alcohol advert
- if you want to circumvent this by chucking some youthful looking 25 year old boy or girl in the ad then you can't, as nobody can APPEAR to be younger than 25 in said advert
- ever noticed how the blokes in beer ads are so 'average' looking? I think I'm right in saying you can't use good looking people in alcohol ads as to insinuate that drinking lots makes you better looking
- you can't insinuate that drinking alcohol makes you funnier
- you can't insinuate that drinking alcohol makes you more attractive to the opposite sex
- you can't insinuate that drinking alcohol makes you more relaxed

Remember these next time a Carling or Carlberg advert comes on - it's a miracle they're creative enough to make something that passes for watchable or vaguely funny in my opinion.

It also explains the fucking abstract nonsense that Guiness vomit onto our screens.
(.click, Tue 20 Apr 2010, 17:32, 1 reply)

Funny you should mention that
My flatmate is currently a bit despondent in his job and was looking for somewhere else to go, and considered offering himself to Fuller's for work in their PR/advertising department. This obviously led to a drunken discussion of how someone who drinks far too much London Pride and ESB could convince others to do the same. I'd heard there were restrictions on linking alcohol to sexual success, but the ones about age, etc., are news to me - and a little alarming.

(Not least of all because he's basically a walking advert for real ale and won't be 25 for a couple of months yet...)
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 20 Apr 2010, 17:43, closed)