Telstra strikes down alien ad after ‘moron’ dispute

Harry Booth

9 hours ago

Telecommunications giant Telstra has been told to remove an advert involving an alien after its use of the word ‘moron’ was disputed.

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) handed down the ruling after it found breaches of two counts of the advertising code of ethics. 

The advert depicted an alien leader named ‘Zedor’ failing to show fellow aliens its “scam-pocalypse” attack due to Telstra’s network improvements.

Zedor said – in the 90-second version of the advert – “I don’t care anymore. You surround me with morons”. Telstra conceded to the ASA that the term could be “impolite and insulting”.

“The panel considered that the word ‘moron’ is likely to be considered an offensive and disrespectful term, which has a historic legacy of being used to refer to someone who has intellectual impairment or is otherwise acting stupidly,” the ASA’s decision stated.

“Given the aggressive context, and given that the word ‘morons’ is used to direct anger or contempt at other characters, the panel considered that the ad used strong and demeaning language in a way that was contrary to community standards.”

Some viewers complained about alien characters being killed in the ad. Telstra argued that the “highly fantastical” scenes would not be interpreted literally by viewers. The ASA agreed and dismissed that complaint.