back to article UK probes Snickers over 'celebrity' Twitter adverts

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is to investigate a promotional campaign by confectionery giant Mars, which hired B-list celebrities to push its Snickers candy bars. “Following two complaints, the ASA has launched a formal investigation into tweets by Katie Price and Rio Ferdinand to establish whether Mars’ @ …

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  1. The Cube
    WTF?

    Can't we just assume

    That anyone stupid enough to give a toss what inane and irrelevant drivel seeps from these two pointless turds is also too stupid to know or care that they are the are being advertised at? Surely we should be celebrating that for a few seconds at least the single digit IQ brigade gaped slack-jawed at Twatter instead of some unspeakable "reality" TV show where amoeba compete with each other for who can be the bottom of the gene pool?

    On the upside the turds are pictured tucking into something that looks very much like a......

  2. The BigYin

    Mee-ja tarts...

    ...do crap for money. This is news?

    Seriously, if a celeb says anything for or against a product the only question you should ask is "How much did that opinion cost?"

    Just as any bill an MP tables should raise the question "How much did that opinion cost?"

    But what's the suitable punishment for these irrelevant egoists? How about 1 hour helping a diabetics/obesity charity for each calorie in a "Snickers"? Should keep them busy and out of our hair for about 318 hours.

  3. citizenx

    May i be the first to say, "who gives a shit"?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    SO

    What is the problem with this, it just reminds me that I have a MARATHON in the fridge and will now eat it without sharing it with my........

    Yes MARATHON, I so hate that metrosexual 'Snickers' Eurosoft name.

    Marathons were Men Chocs before they gave it a chick name.

    1. Graham Marsden
      Happy

      Reminds me...

      ... of the old Topic advert "What has a hazlenut in every bite?"

      To which, at school, we'd respond "Squirrel shit!"

      1. BorkedAgain
        Thumb Up

        Not at our school.

        ...We valued the creative arts, and responded "Squirrel Shite" 'cos it rhymed...

        1. BorkedAgain
          WTF?

          Downvote? Really? Who'd I offend with that?

          1. LarsG

            doesn't

            Take much to offend some people on here, you have my upvote for your poetic style.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        And the difference

        between Topic and squirrel shite is?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Marathons were Men Chocs before they gave it a chick name."

      What drivel!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        YES....

        They were wholesome and GOOD for you, and I yes they appealed to MEN, I don't remember women being part of the ad, just like the Yorkie Bar and the truck driver!

        A committee of European wishy washy liberal leftie metrosexual lycra clad Eurosoft advertising executives must have had a hand in this.

        The same people who buy MEN products and take two hours to get ready to go to work using moisturiser and wrinkle creams.

        I stand by what I say, these people FEMMINISED the Marathon choc bar into a chick bar.

        Has anyone ever seen a woman eat one? I rest my case.

        I feel better for that.

    3. Stewart Cunningham
      Mushroom

      I have a Marathon bar, circa 1989, in my parents attic. Last time I checked it hadn't gotten up and walked away.

  5. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Sponsorship

    The same Rio Ferdinand runs around a bit of grass on saturdays wearing a shirt saying AIG.

    Well I was concerned about AIG's credit downgrading following liquidity problems - but if an insurance expert such as Mr Ferdinand is willing to wear their name in public they must be OK.

    Of course I wonder trust his opinion on what penautty chocolate bar to eat - that's just silly.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Perhaps he should ask Sir Alex for a new shirt as all his colleagues have had ones with Aon on them for the last year and a half!

  6. Graham Lockley

    Whats a candy bar ? Isn't it something our merkin chooms eat ?

  7. Grubby
    Thumb Down

    The story

    Will generate more publicity than the 'ad'.

    People will always look for something to moan about, I work in complaints and know of a lot of people who will go out of their way, often at great expense (in terms of time and money) to find something that may be wrong and complain that it has offended them, and my response is usually the same, if it offends you... don't look at it. There will always be genuine cases but things like this are annoying because some pathetic loser has seen it and thought, i don't like it I'll complain, when the other 900k followers or whatever it is that rio has have done the obvious thing and simply ignored it.

    1. tfewster
      FAIL

      You're in the wrong job

      If someone makes the effort to give you feedback, you really should be listening. 90% of unhappy customers wont bother, and just avoid your products in future. The 10% who care enough to give you a second chance are gold. Even if your business model says you're willing to lose existing customers for new markets.

    2. Grease Monkey Silver badge

      Grubby you really are missing the point aren't you. The point is that here in the UK it is against the rules for a company to advertise something without its being clear that it is an advertisement.

      Remember Anthea Turner and her bar of choccy?

      1. mark 63 Silver badge

        @grease monkey

        but what about product placement?

        thats not too obvious- I'm always wondering if those geeks on "big band theory" are constantly waving i-phones at us cos they're paid to or not

        ...but I sure as hell dont want a big sign popping up saying "THIS IS PRODUCT PLACEMENT" popping up every time , as per one idiotic idea toted around a few months ago

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "Aliens! They're probably gonna return Glenn Miller."

          Is the "Big Band Theory" that show about a bunch of nerdy Glenn Miller fanboys?

        2. Grease Monkey Silver badge

          Big BanG Theory is as far as I'm aware a US made programme. Had that passed you by?

  8. mafoo
    Coat

    Been a while...

    Its been practically weeks since I've seen a story about jordan with nuts in her mouth... and er.. caramel.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If Mars wanted to advertise their chocolate bars

    Perhaps they should have tried Marianne Faithfull instead.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    Dear America

    I know this has already been said, but it's Friday and i need to get this off my chesticles...

    1. In the UK they are chocolate bars. Candy is generally reserved for the pink sugary confection known as "candy floss". Thats the ONLY definition of candy in the UK. Even candy canes are called sugar canes.

    2. I'ts a Marathon bar, the original name was to suggest it was a long running weighty bar with bags of energy. Not a fucking "Snickers". What corporate wank-bubble decided to call it "snickers". You might as well go all the hog, stick it in pink wrapper and declare it has fewer than 600 calories. You know, for the "image conscious" amongst us.....

    3. Who gives a toss what these cretinous empty headed fucktards think....

    Rant over....Still makes my piss boil / shit itch.....

    1. jockmcthingiemibobb
      Boffin

      Could be worse

      Could be worse....you could be in nooo zeelan. The 6 fingered yokels here call all confectionery "lollies".

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Still

        better than "popsicle" or "snow cone"....

        1. FreeTard

          snow cone eh

          I had to google it, as I genuinely thought it was a reference to "cocaine" of some sort.

    2. Christine Hedley Silver badge

      I must agree about the ridiculous renaming. Marathon was a good, wholesome-sounding name; Snickers sounds like some sort of venereal disease. Who the hell thought that it was a good idea?! The mind boggles.

      1. Captain Underpants
        Trollface

        I know!

        Feckin' kids today, etc.

        Let's remember, for a moment, that we're talking about the name under which a corporation sells us a piece of frigging confectionery here. The choice of name, really, has about as much weight as a mousefart in the greater scheme of things. Those of you claiming otherwise are basically waving your canes around and muttering "Well, back when I were a lad mumble mumble" *snore* "AAAAGH! THE KAISER'S OUT TO GET ME!"

    3. Grease Monkey Silver badge

      Addressing your point #2. Snickers (or Marathon) is a product of a US company. Somebody in Britain decided to call it Marathon when it went on sale, allegedly because it took a long time to eat. However that doesn't change the fact that it was originally a Snickers bar when sold in it's native market.

  11. Grease Monkey Silver badge

    I don't think this is the first time that social media has been used for a bit of sneaky advertising, and I doubt it will be the last. But this isn't something unique to social media. How many celebs have been paid in the past to make sure that they mentioned products in interviews or got those products in press and publicity photographs? This is just another media outlet as far as they are concerned and a person would have to be seriously naive to think it operates in a different way to the traditional media in that respect.

    It seems strange that the ASA are making an issue out of this when they haven't made an issue about the same thing in more traditional media.

  12. Fihart

    Don't care...

    ...enough to make any meaningful comment.

    1. BorkedAgain

      I see what you're saying.

  13. Lloyd
    Facepalm

    B-list celebrities????

    Really? B? 2 of 26? I'm thinking somewhere after n myself.

  14. Crisp
    Stop

    Fine the lot of them

    These "celebrities" need to be publicly crucified as a warning to other famous people still at large.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    chocolate bar!

    OK it came form a correspondent in the USofA but as has been said above and also many times on this august site, it's elreg.co.UK.

    Please Reg reporters respect this and use English terms, and if they can't, then what's the Editor doing! :-)

  16. mad_dr
    Happy

    "Probes Snickers"

    Tee hee. I'm such a child... :)

  17. Patrick R
    Facepalm

    Not on here to be advertised at.

    But here for Rio the philosopher, the visionary poet, ...and stuffs.

  18. Powelly
    WTF?

    Was this paid for by Cadbury?

    Regardless of anything else, which genius at the marketing company managed to get "Celebs suddenly develop a modicum of intelligence, but eat one of your bars and immediately turn back into a dribbling, ignorant cretin" past the customer?

    Snickers apparently makes you:

    * Lose any economic savvy (Jordan);

    * Lose any love of literature (Cher Lloyd);

    * Lose any desire to play music (Botham).

    Where do I sign up?!?!

  19. Eddie Edwards
    Coat

    Twitter should remove these tweets & photos, although it wouldn't be the first time Jordan's snickers have been pulled down. #badamching

  20. lansalot
    Thumb Up

    interesting..

    I especially liked how it took a chocolate bar for Katie Price/Jordan to have something intelligent-sounding to "say". Only to revert back to form moments after.

    Nothing quite like celebrating your vacuousness out in the open, eh !

  21. stuwaldy

    #spon

    Am I alone in always reading #spon as short for spondulix, rather than sponsored? Come on "celebs" be honest, #whoringmyselfoutforcash would be more appropriate, the drawback being it means less characters to shill your goods with - although I would be surprised if Jordan and Rio could manage 140 characters between them.

  22. Richard Cartledge
    Happy

    What do these sheeple expect?

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If you can't tell it's an advertisement

    you're a lost cause.

    (Protip: it's always an advertisement.)

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