A complaint against a radio advert from Reed.co.uk, which was criticised as offensive to Germans, has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The advert featured a man speaking to his boss who responded angrily and loudly in German. The voice-over said: “Boss a bit of a tyrant? Find your perfect boss on the UK’s biggest job site …”.

Thirteen listeners felt the ad was offensive to Germans because it used an outdated stereotype and implied all Germans were tyrants.

The Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC) said most listeners would see the scenario as humorous and inoffensive and did not regard the German people as a minority group, as defined by the CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code. It added that the scenario would not be seen as a stereotype likely to cause general or serious offence to German people.

However, while the ASA acknowledged that the use of stereotypes was an inevitable part of establishing a character in a short radio ad, it said such stereotypes should not perpetuate damaging misconceptions, adding that the portrayal suggested that German people were more likely to be unreasonable or aggressive to others.  

The ASA concluded that the ad breached CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code Section 2 rule 9 (Good taste and decency) and that, given the extreme reaction and aggressive tone of the German speaking boss, the ad reinforced a negative and outdated cultural stereotype of German people as overpowering and tyrannical and therefore the ad had the potential to cause serious offence to some listeners.

Recruiter contacted Reed.co.uk for comment but had not heard back at time of press.