Complaints Against Australian Chewing Gum Ad Featuring Lesbian Kiss Dismissed

• My children should not be exposed to 2 women kissing on a Saturday morning on free to air TV, I should choose when to tell my children about same sex relationships it shouldn’t be forced on to them by commercial TV.
• My 8yr old son thought it was gross and we as adults thought it was disgusting. We are sick of seeing commercials having sexualised content.
• Two women passionately kissing on a TV commercial is not acceptable. People are watching a PG show with their family and do not expect to be confronted with lovemaking on an advertisement.
• It is completely unacceptable, it just continues to cause confusion for our young people at an age that is easily confused about sexual destination.we are so sick of seeing same sex relationships being promoted as the norm in public media 
• To many same sex relationships in the media all the time. It needs to be tolerated but should not be advertised as the norm.
• Lesbians also suffer from violence and domestic violence and this advertisement appears to promote aggressive kissing without consent.

These were some of the complaints against Mars Wrigley Australia’s ad for chewing gum that featured two women kissing.It was the third most complained about ad, with around 126 Australians furious over the same-sex kiss. 

Ad Did Not Breach Code

The Ad Standards Community Panel, comprising of “everyday Australians from a range of backgrounds”, ruled that an ad showing a same-sex couple was not itself a breach of the Code.

The panel said that while some people may prefer not to see kissing on TV, considering that “the level of sexuality in the advertisement was very mild” it was “not inappropriate for viewing by a general audience which may include children.”

The panel also dismissed complaints the ad of showing nudity and sexuality. The Panel said that both the actors were fully dressed and the ad did not portray nudity. With regard to the complaints about sexuality, the panel said that “while there is a depiction of two people kissing they are not engaging in sexual intercourse or sexually stimulating behaviour. The Panel therefore considered that the advertisement does not contain a depiction of sex.”

Ad Standards Received Over 3,500 Complaints In 2023

The Panel did not agree with complainants who claimed that the ad portrayed non-consensual sex or sexual violence. 

“In this instance the Panel considered that there was no indication in the advertisement that the two women do not know each other or that the kiss was unwelcome or not consensual. The Panel noted that the young woman does not pull away from the kiss, and appears to lean in towards the other woman. The Panel considered that this was an indication of non-verbal consent and that this advertisement did not depict a sexual assault,” the panel ruled while dismissing the complaints. 

The company said it had “purposefully” depicted a same-sex couple in the ad. “Mars Wrigley has purposefully included this in an effort to ensure its messaging is inclusive to all sections of the community, in this instance focussing on sexuality. We believe that the Advertisement demonstrates Mars Wrigley’s commitment to inclusivity,” the company said.

According to Ad standards it received over 3,500 complaints against ads this year. The most complained about ad was a billboard for an adult content creator featuring a woman in a bikini, with an OnlyFans logo and a QR code.