Aldi's Kevin the Carrot advert is BANNED for an unexpected reason

21 February 2018, 12:23

Naughty Kevin.

One of last year's Aldi Christmas adverts has been banned due to inappropriately promoting alcohol to a young audience.

The TV advert (see it above) saw Kevin the Carrot reference the thriller film The Sixth Sense, and ended with an alcohol-themed voice-over rhyme by Jim Broadbent.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the advert was likely to have "strong appeal" to under-18s.

However, Aldi said the advert aimed simply to appeal to "adults rather than children".

The watchdog made the ruling after one viewer complained that the advert was irresponsible when targeting children.

The advert featured on TV as one of Aldi's 12-part festive campaign. It begins with Kevin saying "I see dead parsnips", referencing a line from the 1999 Bruce Willis movie The Sixth Sense.

It then ends with a voice-over saying: "There were a few spirits that cold Christmas night. Award winning bottles for raising a toast and one frightened carrot had just seen a ghost."

The ASA ruled that the tone of the advert was similar to a children's story, and would be funny to younger children.

"Because of that, we considered the ad was likely to appeal strongly to people under 18 and given that it was promoting alcohol, we concluded was irresponsible," the ASA stated.