‘Do you fucking mind?’: MILKRUN pinged by Ad Standards for swearing in podcast ads

News 19 Oct 2022 - 2 min read

‘Do you fucking mind?’: MILKRUN pinged by Ad Standards for swearing in podcast ads

By Sam Buckingham-Jones - Deputy Editor

Grocery delivery service MILKRUN has been found in breach of the Ad Standards' Code of Ethics.

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Tags: ad standards

Beware the perils of using brands with swear words in the title. MILKRUN has copped a breach by Ad Standards after the host of a podcast, ‘Do you f*****g mind’, was used in an ad campaign placed in other podcasts – in this case, the BBC World Tonight podcast.

What you need to know:

MILKRUN has been found in breach of the Ad Standards Code of Ethics for swearing in ads placed in podcasts.
Using the “f” and “c” words unnecessarily can fall afoul of the Code.

Last mile delivery platform MILKRUN has apologised for causing offence after breaching Ad Standards’ Code of Conduct for using the word “fucking” twice in an ad run in podcasts.

A member of the public was listening to a BBC World Tonight podcast on August 11 when an ad by the host of a program called ‘Do You F*****g Mind’ promoting MILKRUN came on.

“This podcast uses the F word in the ad for Milk run twice,” the listener wrote to Ad Standards. “There is no warning + this is offensive. Is it okay to broadcast this?”

MILKRUN responded, saying the ads were targeted at adults listening to podcasts in August, and that the word was only used in the name of the podcast, i.e., ‘Do you f*****g mind’.

Ad Standards’ community panel found the ads breached Section 2 of the Australian Association of National Advertisers’ (AANA) Code of Ethics. The “f” and “c” words are considered harmful under the code.

“The Panel considered that the advertisement was not for the DYFM podcast, but for a grocery delivery service, and as such the use of the swearing was irrelevant and unnecessary,” Ad Standards wrote.

“The Panel considered that the language could easily have been beeped out or have used the word “effing” without saying the f-word in full … The Panel considered that the advertisement did contain strong language which was not appropriate in the context of advertising a grocery delivery service during a news podcast.”

MILKRUN said the ad would not run again and it was discontinued on August 31.