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London (pte042/16.03.2005/15:15) - An advert for the beef yeast extract Marmite which spoofed the classic 1950s sci-fi horror film The Blob has been banned from children's television by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) http://www.asa.org.uk because it gave the children nightmares. As the Media Guardian http://www.mediaguardian.co.uk reports, it also terrified two- and three-year-olds into refusing to watch television.
The advert showed a large blob of the savoury spread causing havoc in a high street, panicking some shoppers who attempted to escape it, while delighting others who ran towards it and were engulfed. The advert, shown at the end of last year and made by the agency DDB London, ended with the slogan "You either love it or hate it". It was pulled in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami because it was felt that the images of people jumping into the blob could distress viewers upset by the disaster. However, six viewers complained that the advertisement was shown on a children's television channel and around its programmes and it had scared their offspring.
Unilever Bestfoods, which owns Marmite, argued against imposing an "ex-kids restriction" on the advert, because that meant that some broadcasters would not screen it during general programmes that had a large audience of children, such as Pop Idol. However, the ASA ruled there was enough concern about the advert to impose the restriction. "It was clear from the complaints we received that the advertisements had caused distress to very young children," the watchdog said.
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