MyPlates ads attract 350 complaints

A series of TV commercials promoting a new range of special 'Le Chic' registration plates for NSW Roads and Maritime Services has attracted more than 350 complaints from the public.

The TVCs, commissioned by Plate Marketing Pty Ltd, which was appointed by NSW Transport to operate its myPlates personalised number plate business in October 2010, call on women to ‘man proof’ their cars with the female-centric number plates, which feature flowers, high-heel shows, love hearts and pink backgrounds.

According to media and marketing website Mumbrella, myPlates chief Daryl Head was "upset" after receiving more than 350 complaints for the three 'Le Chic' TVCs targeting women.

Although some of them are likely to be duplicates, Head said the volume and ferocity of the complaints “rocked our socks off” and admitted he will think twice about the content of future campaigns.

“We haven’t done anything wrong or breached any code of conduct," Head told Mumbrella, adding that the complaints – some of which were abusive -- were dismissed by the Australian Standards Bureau.

Head said there was no intention to offend anybody with the ads, in which one man is seen breaking wind and another picking his nose.

“The ferocity of the complaints has been quite upsetting," he told Mumbrella. "They are abusive, and the young ladies handling the complaints for me have been offended. That has rocked our socks off.

"I don’t intend to offend and the ads are not designed to get complaints and get people upset. They are designed to be funny.”

The myPlates chief said the reaction to his latest TVCs would make him approach future campaigns differently, but that complainants cannot simply demand all ads they find offensive be removed.

"It has to make you stop and think. Any company that gets feedback and arrogantly ignores it is in trouble, so we are not going to do that and dismiss the complaints,” he told Mumbrella.

“Complain by all means because it does have an impact and it has impacted my thinking about how we move forward. But complainants need to be aware that their opinion is not a greater opinion than another person who might find the ads amusing.

“I don’t think people are too sensitive, that’s not for me to judge, but it is incredibly difficult to do anything in society in a public forum that does not get a complaint."

Head suggested that because myPlates promoted government products, it was held to higher scrutiny than other advertisers.

“We seem to trip people up easier,” said Head, who insisted the myPlates brand would not be damaged because its target audience doesn't include those who are offended by the ads.

“The people who are complaining from a personality perspective don’t buy our plates. Our audience is humorous, out there, extroverted and brave and these people are not in that personality group,” he said.

Head, who attracted controversy last year after airing myPlates TVCs featuring a man “showing a bit of bum crack” in his back yard, said he looked forward to the public reaction to three new myPlates TVCs that began airing on the weekend.

“It seems that everything I do people complain,” he told Mumbrella.