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'Go to Work on an Egg' advert banned by authority

What the... (June 2007)

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JR
jrothwell97
BBC News posted:
Ban on rerun of eggs TV advert

Reruns of a TV commercial from the 1950s which urged viewers to "go to work on an egg" have been banned.
An advertising watchdog said the slogan went against the principle of eating a varied diet.

The Egg Information Service had wanted to screen the advert, which featured comedian Tony Hancock, to celebrate its 50th birthday.

Author Fay Weldon, who headed the team which came up with the slogan, has described the decision as absurd.

"When you think of what can be run and what is being run, like low-cost airlines and cars - cars kill, eggs aren't actually likely to do so," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
She said she was proud of the adverts and remembered how Hancock was reluctant to take part.

"He hated doing them, he felt it was a great comedown, he didn't want to do them and did them as a kind of mockery.

"I sat in the studio listening to him moaning and complaining, so we just wrote what he wanted.

"One of them said 'I hate doing this advertisement' - we just thought the truth might work best."

'Accepted advice'

The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) defended its decision, insisting that the adverts did not suggest a varied diet.

BACC spokesman Kristoffer Hammer said: "Dietary considerations have been at the centre of the new rules for advertising and in consideration of this we felt that these adverts did not suggest a varied diet.

"The concept of eating eggs every day for breakfast goes against what is now the generally accepted advice of a varied diet and we therefore could not approve the ads for broadcast."

British Egg Information Service spokesperson Amanda Cryer said: "We have been shocked by this ruling as eggs are a healthy, natural food which are recommended by nutritionists."

"What's more, there are no restrictions on the number of eggs people can eat, which was recently confirmed by the Food Standards Agency, and between five and seven eggs a week would be totally acceptable for most people."

Ms Cryer added: "In addition, many other advertisers clearly promote their products to be eaten every day such as breakfast cereals so we are very surprised that eggs have been singled out in this way."


I'm unsure whether this will trigger a food scare from the Daily Mail or the Express .

EDIT : poll added as I have too much time on my hands
BS
brotherton sands
jrothwell97 posted:
I'm unsure whether this will trigger a food scare from the Daily Mail or the Express .


Laughing

It would've been interesting to see how they would convert them to widescreen (e.g. cropped to 14:9, with thin black bars at the sides? Or uber-cropped to 16:9? Or cropped to 14:9, and slightly stretched so as to reach the edges of the 16:9 frame? Or something else?), and whether or not all the action would be in the 4:3 safe area.

I guess now we'll never know.
WE
Westy2
You forgot 'Unfertilised' ! Laughing
TV
tvarksouthwest
What an idiotic decision. As the commentators on BBC News rightly pointed out, our ad breaks are full of ads for Coca-Cola and the like but we're not allowed to advertise eggs because it's not promoting a balanced diet! Jesus Christ.
MH
miss hellfire
I prefer mIne free range and poached. Infact you can't beat the eggs freshly laid by the chooks down the road from me. When i get them on a sunday morning they're Still warm. YUMMY!!!

Like everthing. Nothing is that bad for you if it's in moderation.
PC
Paul Clark
What a silly thing to ban, especially if you look at the wider picture. If it was implying eggs should be eaten round the clock every day then I could see the fuss, but it isn't.

This is just a case of a watchdog taking something far too literally in the modern day and age, when I'm sure if they thought about it, they'd realise people simply aren't going to be daft enough to interpret it in the way they seem to think we will! Rolling Eyes


EDIT: And it's poached eggs for me!
SA
saturdaymorning
They might be doing it out of respect.
PE
Pete Founding member
saturdaymorning posted:
They might be doing it out of respect.


for who?
RM
Roger Mellie
jrothwell97 posted:


I'm unsure whether this will trigger a food scare from the Daily Mail or the Express .



Not the Express , unless it is linked in some way to the death of Diana. Perhaps she really died of salmonella poisoning, the Duke of Edinburgh flew poisoned eggs in to her Paris hotel. Don't laugh, it will on the front cover next week.

Well being alive kills you, in the Daily Mail . Being dead is the only way you can avoid dying according to them. Probably <"paradox or some form of pretentious satirical irony" emoticon>
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Hymagumba posted:
saturdaymorning posted:
They might be doing it out of respect.


for who?


Edwina Currie's political carrer after the Salmonella scare?
MH
miss hellfire
Gosh that was yonks ago. Since then she's shagged John Major and told her story about it. Which is enough for anyone With the strongest stomach to bring up their brekkie.
PT
Put The Telly On
Another reason.... to prevent the promotion of egg-throwing at Labour politicians.
http://www.ananova.com/images/news/prescott_punch1SKY410x309.jpg

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