Car Ad Promising To Make Drivers ‘Look Like A MILF’ Banned After Complaint

A New Zealand car dealership got into some hot water over its racy, funny videos posing as advertising this week after a complaint about the use of the word “MILF” as well as a concern about false advertising.

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The YouTube and Facebook accounts have several fairly funny ads, but the one that got Portage Cars dinged by New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Authority is no longer up. That ad was for a plug-in hybrid Mitsubishi Outlander, according to the New York Post, a car social media influencer Kiedis Haze told potential customers would make them “look like a MILF driving it.”

A disgruntled Kiwi made a formal complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority and claimed Portage Cars’ videos were “not only insulting but highly sexualized and not appropriate for a general audience in which it is promoted to”.

However, it was a different part of the complaint that ultimately saw the video taken down.

“ … it also claims that the advertiser has the ‘Easiest finance in the world’ but has nothing to backup this claim other,” the complainant wrote to the authority.

It seems the ad has been removed from Portage Cars social media sites following the ruling. Portage Cars released a statement saying of course the videos weren’t actual advertising; they were just a spoof to jazz up the normally route recitation of vehicle features and stats that normally accompany an ad. The bit about the easiest financing in the world was part of the bit.

“The complainant has taken a light-hearted, satirical car review seriously without understating the New Zealand sense of humor,” Portage wrote in a press release about the ban. While the order to remove the ad has kept this joke out of subsequent ads, the sexy innuendo stays, Portage Cars manager told local news sites.

The sexy and funny angle certainly have worked for Portage. Its ads have gone viral in Australia and the U.S. for their tongue-in-cheek humor. Take this ad for an STI Pro Drive Edition, which pokes fun at Subaru owners tendency for vaping:

We’re Selling a Subaru WRX STI Pro Drive Edition | Portage Cars | New Zealand Car Dealership

Or this ad, which promises to bring all the boys to the yard for Portage Cars clients.

You WON’T Believe How SEXY This Car MAKES YOU FEEL | Portage Cars

Some people can’t take a joke.