A Sexist Australian Wine Ad Was Banned for Mentioning Bush

Australia seems to have a knack for offensive booze ads.

Its questionable commercials usually remain within its borders, but a recent wine ad from Australia destined for Brits' television screens was packed with so much sexual innuendo that it ended up being banned in the UK.

The ad in question features an Aussie woman in a white dress holding a glass of red wine. While proclaiming her love for reasonably priced wines, the woman tells viewers that she "goes for Premier Estates Wine every time," and begins to enumerate the reasons why. "Take this exquisite Aussie shiraz, a mere £5.99 a bottle," she says before taking a sip, and describing the wine's bouquet in a breathy voice: "Luscious, earthy, bursting with fruit and spice."

The nameless Australian woman then places the wine glass down on a suspiciously low table in front of her, and the remaining wine creates a v-shaped outline directly over her crotch area—you get the idea.

But it doesn't end there. For those still unable to pick up on the sexual undertones of the ad, the woman adds one final note. "Australia practically jumps out of the glass—in fact, some say you can almost taste the bush," she declares before scurrying away from the table, visibly embarrassed by her own words.

Needless to say, Premier Estates' foray into this territory was a risky move and drew numerous complaints not only from the UK consumers whom it was targeting, but even from Wine Australia, the statutory body within Australia in charge of promoting the consumption and sale of Australian wine overseas.

As a result, the UK's ad watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), found the ad to be in serious violation of its guidelines.

"The ASA considered that most viewers would understand the claim 'some say you can almost taste the bush' to be a reference to oral sex, particularly given that it was accompanied with the image of the wine glass positioned directly in front of the woman's crotch," the advertising body ruled, adding, "We considered that the ad presented the woman in a degrading manner, and concluded that it was likely to cause serious or widespread offence."

The appropriate punishment, according to the ASA, is to ban the sexy ad from British airwaves altogether. "The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told Premier Estates Wine to ensure their ads did not cause serious or widespread offence and to ensure they did not link alcohol with sexual activity in future," they wrote in their decision.

This is hardly the first time an Australian booze ad has stirred up controversy. In September, Australia's Alcohol Advertising Review Board handed it out its annual award for worst alcohol ad in the country.

The winner was an alcopop review written by a 12-year-old, and runners-up included a Coopers beer poster on a bus stop outside of a school, a Coors ad claiming that "It's a scientific fact that a man with a Coors in his hand is 85 percent more attractive," and Smirnoff's Instagram account.

But given Australia penchant for boxed wine, at least Premier Estate didn't go with "you can almost taste the box."