Yesterday (20 November) the Advertising Standards Authority banned an internet video For Goodness Shakes that contained multiple visual references to masturbation.

News of the ban prompted several readers to go away comments on Marketing Week.co.uk and on Twitter with most disagreeing with the call to prohibit the ad.  One, Matthew, wrote: “Very funny and brilliant. It made me laugh surely. Possibly risqué, but offensive? No way.”

Alex Brooks, marketing director of For Goodness Shakes, told Marketing Week he was “disappointed” with the ruling, stating that only 1 person complained from 1 million those who had viewed the ad.

He argued the ad, which featured multiple shots of guys shaking objects throughout the region in their groins, was “comedic and light-weight hearted” in content and tone and was entirely appropriate for the objective market of young males.

“Humorous? Yes. Cheeky? Yes. But we predict it was mild in tone,” he adds.

The brand would be careful to not cause offence someday, Brooks adds, but is just not deterred by the ruling.

“The thing is, we get cut through [by developing “cheeky” content]. We can’t do anything too similar [due to the ban] but we’ll continue to push boundaries to make certain our ads are exciting and get audience cut through.”

Asked whether the ad ban is helpful due to the publicity it has attracted, Brooks concedes that during this situation it had done the logo no harm.

“If we had received plenty of complaints then i’d be troubled,” he adds.