McDonald's "alien" ad banned, Nando's stripper ad stays

Proving that everything is upside down down under (oh c'mon, I had to work that in there) comes this bizarre story. A McDonald's ad is banned because it undermines parent's authority, like they do, but a nutty Nando ad depicting mother as a pole dancer is OK.

The McDonald's ad show an alien space ship 'abducting' a young girl by promising her a happy meal if she comes with them. The aliens even say that they'll pick up her dad on the way.The Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) decided to blacklist the ad after receiving complaints from distressed parents - who are the actual target market of McDonald's.. Ooops! Quote of the week comes from McDonald's response:

"We take our position in the community very seriously and we would not do or communicate anything that we feel would deliberately put our younger consumers in danger"

Make no mistake mom and dad, your child is a consumer. Not a customer or yaknow, a kid, but a consumer. Love that.

But this advert is deemed OK to air. When I first saw this I thought it was a poor effort trying to pick up the SNL torch of mocking ads which fell short since it was only kinda out there, just not out there enough. But now I see why, it's actually a real ad. Mein Gutt! I thought they were kidding!

Herald Sun reports:

The Advertising Standards Bureau dismissed 200 public complaints about a Nando's chicken chain ad featuring a pole dancer wearing only a G-string.

But an animated McDonald's advertisement showing a girl being abducted by aliens and rewarded with a Happy Meal has been axed for undermining "stranger danger" messages.

The ad watchdog previously banned a bank ad in which a man in a bunny suit was tripped up by a shopkeeper -- because of one complaint of animal cruelty.