A TV ad for Twix has been banned in the UK after an industry standards group said it promoted unsafe driving. The commercial “Two is More Than One” shows a driver in vintage sedan being followed on a remote road; to lose his pursuer, he swerves off the highway and into a ravine. The man lands safely upside down on top a right-side-up clone version of him and his car, and together—with Twix in hand—they ride off into the desert as the sun sets.
The ad is an absurd play on the double candy bars Twix is known for, but for regulators for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), an independent advertising regulator in the UK that polices ads standards, the ad went too far. In a ruling Wednesday, the ASA said the ad encourages “dangerous driving” and banned it from airing again in its current iteration.
Absurdity and fantasy are favorite ways for advertisers to sell products from candy to perfume, and Mars Wrigley argued their Twix ad had “a cinematic presentation” and was set “in a separate world that was absurd, fantastical and removed from reality.” Rather than encourage unsafe driving, the company argued the ad used imaginative storytelling, absurd elements, and Hollywood style to convey the message of the campaign, according to the ruling. Further, the company noted that Twix is known for playful, humorous advertising, like “Ideologies,” the 2012 ad that pitted the left vs. right Twix against each other.
The ASA didn’t dispute that the ad had a cinematic feel, but they had a problem with the emphasis on a chase and speed, and ultimately the group believed the spot broke ad standards against encouraging irresponsible driving. The ASA has enforced the rule before, including in 2015 against Honda.
“We considered the emphasis on a chase, and the speed inherent to that, and the driving maneuvers featured would be dangerous and irresponsible if emulated in real life on a public highway,” the ruling says. “Because we considered the driving depicted in the ads condoned unsafe driving, that appeared likely to breach the legal requirements of the Highway Code, we concluded the ads were irresponsible.”
The ad no longer appears on the Twix UK YouTube page, though third-party accounts uploaded it for the curious, and truth be told, it’s a whole lot more interesting now that it’s banned. For a candy brand that caters to the young and young at heart, making a humorous commercial that’s too dangerous for TV might just be a badge of honor.
