A Northern-based paint company has been hit with more than 100 complaints over its new TV advert, which has been branded “offensive”.
Crown Paints – which is based in Darwen in Lancashire – released the advert in question earlier this month, and through a cast of actors, singers, and spoken word performers, it tells the story of a young couple named Hannah and Dave.
The couple were said to have met at an illegal rave, and are now expecting their first child together.
Lyrics from the advert’s jingle include: “Now a baby’s coming and they don’t know what it is. Hannah’s hoping for a girl, Dave’s just hoping that it’s his.
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“They’re happy that their spare room’s no longer grey because there’s a baby on the way.”
Since its release and airing on TV screens across the UK, an Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) spokesman said it had received 150 complaints about the advert – which it is “currently assessing to determine if there is a potential problem under our rules and, if so, whether there are grounds for further action”.
The ASA says the majority of complaints are mainly focused on whether the content in the advert is appropriate to be shown on television, as well as many taking to social media and calling it out for being “totally derogatory” towards women.
Comedian Jennie Eclair was one of the more prominent figures to complain to Crown Paints on social media earlier this week, tweeting: “Hey Crown Paints, get that offensive baby ad off air – what were you thinking!!!? What on earth possessed you?”
Hey @crownpaints get that offensive baby ad off air – what were you thinking !!!? What on earth possessed you?
Author and podcast host, Daisy Buchanan, was one of the many people to welcome Eclair’s tweet and say in response: “I honestly thought it was me being mad”.
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One viewer took to Twitter and said: “Totally derogatory of women, questioning her fidelity. Take it off because it won’t sell much paint.”
Others said it was “offensive”, “misogynistic”, and a “serious error of judgement”.
Crown Paints then responded to Eclair’s tweet saying: “Our ads are intended to give a humorous account of our characters’ stories. We appreciate that people have differing tastes when it comes to humour and whilst the ad has been broadly well received, we apologise if the remark has caused offence to anyone.”
But Eclair still said she felt that the advert “set up a scenario that implies a woman has possibly conned a man into fatherhood”.
It’s terrible also who was having illegal races four years ago? I thought they belonged to the 90’s – basically you’ve set up a scenario that implies a woman has possibly conned a man into fatherhood – check out the responses on my time line – it’s about 98% anti
Following both the growing online backlash, and the 150 official complaints about the advert, Crown Paints has issued a formal statement addressing the claims.
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A spokesperson said: “This ad is one in a series that is intended to celebrate special moments in life in a humorous way.
“The characters of Hannah and Dave are shown to be in a happy relationship and preparing for their new arrival. There are no negative connotations intended from any of the lyrics and whilst the ad has been broadly well received, we recognise that people have differing tastes in humour.
“We apologise if any of the lines have caused offence.”
Featured Image – Crown Paints
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Tyson Fury calls Usyk and Joshua ‘s***houses’ and doubts AJ fight will happen
Danny Jones
Tyson Fury is at it again on social media, blasting both Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk after the latter suggested he was “afraid” of him.
While Fury is beginning preparations for his fight against AJ due to be held this December, Usyk attempted to rattle the Gypsy King’s cage in the meantime.
Speaking in an interview on his YouTube channel, the Ukrainian said, “Despite his toughness and how he is generally described, he is afraid. Yes, of me.” It didn’t take long for Tyson to respond in kind:
As you can see, the Wythenshawe-born heavyweight spends nearly a full minute shouting expletives, calling Usyk a “little s***house and a ‘little s***bag” before warning, “I’ll put my fist right through the side of you, you little sausage.”
The two have been interested in organising a fight to unify the WBC and IBF belts – held by Fury and Usyk, respectively – for some time now, with Tyson’s promoter Frank Warren insisting that he does believe it will happen at some point in the future.
Rubbishing the suggestion he is scared and dishing out some trash talk of his own, Fury then goes on to call out another “s***house”, as he puts it, labelling Joshua a “big bodybuilder” rather than a boxer and suggesting that he has been delaying signing the contract.
Despite Warren stating that terms would be agreed sometime soon, the long-awaited all-British bout could still be in doubt as we’ve already seen one potential fight disintegrate in the 11th hour.
AJ is coming off back-to-back defeats against Usyk, who he’d no doubt hoped to beat on his way to finally facing Fury. Nevertheless, the WBC champion believes he does want it at all, remarking: “You little sausage, you do not wanna fight, your manager’s a sausage.
The rant continues in a similar vein, with Fury adding: “I’ve never seen anything like yous, both a pack of s***houses.
“However, I will be fighting 3 December if this sausage does not sign the contract, which I don’t think he [will] because I don’t think he’s got the b****cks to, because he’s a s***bag.
It remains to be seen what kind of response Joshua will give and if the fight will finally be locked in. All we know is that it’ll be a big disappointment for fight fans if the match-up falls apart again.
Featured Image – Tyson Fury (via Twitter)
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American tourist baffled by Manchester in hilarious TikTok vlog
Daisy Jackson
An American tourist’s chaotic trip to Manchester has gone viral after he documented the whole thing in a TikTok vlog.
Adeib El Masri, a successful LA-based photographer and TikToker with more than a million followers, said that our city was like ‘a different world’.
He has previously been documenting his experiences of visiting London, including several vlogs about the British weather.
Over the course of two days spent up north, Adeib appeared baffled by the concepts of queueing, fairgrounds, and people being nice to each other.
His pair of heart-warming videos have amassed more than half-a-million views at the time of writing.
At St Peter’s SquareAt the Trafford CentreInside Dog BowlAmerican photographer Adeib El Masri documented his trip to Manchester in a two-part vlog. Credit: TikTok, @adeibb
In the first instalment, Adeib films himself at Manchester Piccadilly, saying: “I’m in Manchester. It looks kind of the same except all the buses are free apparently.”
From his taxi, he adds: “Everyone is so much nicer here, I can already tell.”
He then takes a trip to ‘Trafford Mall’, where his visit to the cruise ship-inspired food court The Orient prompts him to say: “This mall has the most Vegas vibes ever. Like ever.”
On his second TikTok vlog, he praises Manchester for being ‘so pretty’ while walking through Chinatown, and says we have our ‘own Big Ben’ in the Kimpton Clocktower.
Adeib and his friends tried to go for afternoon tea at an undisclosed location, but were turned away for not booking 24 hours in advance (‘very pretentious’, he says) and end up visiting a local Costa instead.
He then documents his trip to a fairground, where everything about the experience seems to delight and confuse him.
He says: “So guess who’s at a carnival! So it’s not a carnival, it’s a parking lot.
“There’s a child running the stands. I’m very confused.
“Moral of the story, check where the funfair is, it could be a parking lot that isn’t a real funfair.”
Fairground disappointment aside, he does concede: “You know what, Manny is a 10 out of 10, d’you know what I mean.”
He later says, on a visit to Dog Bowl: “To save the day I decided to go bowling. Bowling is not available. It’s fine,” before heading to Nando’s.
Once safely back in London, he updated his followers with this: “Manchester was like a different world. Everyone is much nicer, like genuinely out-of-their-way nice, which is bizarre.
“Literally nothing went right in Manchester. I was there for like a day and a half, I almost got deported. Let’s just not get into it.
Emily Sergeant -
16th August 2022 
