MAC road safety campaign featuring ‘hairy fairy’ accused of vilifying hirsute men, mocking Jesus, denigrating male drivers and discriminating against gender-diverse people
A ROAD safety campaign featuring a “hairy fairy’’ has been accused of vilifying hirsute men, mocking Jesus, denigrating male drivers and discriminating against gender-diverse people. Were you offended — VOTE NOW
A ROAD safety advertising campaign featuring a “hairy fairy” has been accused of vilifying hirsute men, mocking Jesus, denigrating male drivers and discriminating against gender-diverse people.
The Motor Accident Commission campaign, launched last month, has also provoked complaints on social media that the ads are “a waste of money” and “disgraceful”.
The campaign — run on television, billboards and Facebook — features a hairy man wearing a pink tutu, warning drivers there is “nothing normal” about speeding in a car.
MAC is not shy of controversy. A previous campaign featured the words “Don’t Drive Like A” followed by pictures of a rooster or doorknob.
The ASB board investigated if the hairy fairy advertisement encouraged discrimination against gender diverse people, was “against men by only depicting males as bad drivers, against religion by depicting a man who looks like Jesus in a tutu, and against people with a lot of body hair by suggesting that being hairy is a bad thing”.
Taking into account MAC’s defence of the campaign, the board ruled the adverts did not breach the Australian Association of National Advertisers’ code of ethics in any respect.
The campaign, however, has also generated more than 700 comments on the MAC Facebook site, many of which were critical of the hairy fairy.
The campaign was called a waste of money, “disgusting, disgraceful and insulting”.
“Instead of wasting money on stupid ads, why don’t they spend it on Driver Training,” one man posted.
But some comments backed it. “I think the ads just having a bit of fun and everyone needs to just chill out a bit,” one said.
MAC spokesman Matt Hanton said the “attention seeking” campaign was intended to “challenge the perception that speeding is normal,” adding: “Road safety campaigns need to cut through”.