The Dairy Milk advert at the centre of a row with former supermodel Naomi Campbell was not racist, the advertising watchdog ruled today.
Campbell claimed the advert for Dairy Milk Bliss – which told an unspecified ‘Naomi’ to “move over… there’s a new diva in town” – was racist for comparing a black woman to a chocolate bar.
But the Advertising Standards Authority today said the ad was "likely to be understood to refer to Naomi Campbell's reputation for 'diva-style' behaviour rather than her race".
"On this basis the council decided that the ad was unlikely to be seen as racist or to cause serious or widespread offence," it said.
Cadbury has already withdrawn the ad and earlier this month published an apology saying it would "never deliberately produce any marketing material we felt might cause offence to any section of society”.
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Naomi Campbell calls out Cadbury in advert row (4 June 2011)
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