Peugeot ad scares Peppa Pig viewer

The ad for the Peugeot 207 Envy was shot underwater in a dark swimming pool at night and showed the car hitting the water and sinking while an Alsatian bares its teeth and barks. A figure is seen running away from the pool as lights come on in the house and a voiceover says: “Beware the consequences of envy”.

It was cleared by advisory body Clearcast with no restriction but a mother saw the ad with her child on the Nick Jr kids’ channel. She complained that it was not suitable for broadcast on a channel dedicated to young children.

Peugeot says that as Clearcast had cleared the ad without scheduling restrictions its media agency did feel it necessary to specify that it should only be broadcast in adult-only media. It admitted that the ad was “clearly not appropriate for small children” and has no plans to run it again.

The car manufacturer said that in future it would be “much more” explicit with its instructions to agencies and networks and it has added a media audience age limit section media campaign sign-off form.

The Advertising Standards Authority said that it thought the ad had a “sinister and menacing tone” that could frighten and cause distress to young children. It said that an ex-kids timing restriction should have been applied and ruled the ad in breach of the regulatory code. It must not run again in or around programmes made for or targeting kids.

Peugeot has just appointed Morgan Lecoupeur as its UK marketing director Peugeot names new marketing director.