The UK’s Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has upheld complaints that two television advertisements for Unilever’s yeast extract brand Marmite were too scary for young children.

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The adverts featured a large amorphous blob, reminiscent of the 1950’s science fiction film “The Blob”. One advert showed a woman screaming and running terrified out of a supermarket; a young couple were then shown running away from a large brown blob. However, on realising what the blob was the young woman began to smile and run towards it. A crowd of people were then shown either running away from the blob or diving into it. The final frame showed the woman, half submerged in the blob, eating Marmite and smiling.


The other advert showed a crowd of people screaming and running away from the blob. It then showed some people running towards it, including a man with a cheese sandwich who dived in. Both advertisements ended with the slogan: “You either love it or hate it.”


Six viewers complained that the advertisements had been broadcast on a children’s television channel and around children’s programming and had distressed their young children, aged between two and three years. All the viewers said that their children had been terrified by the advertisement; four said their children refused to watch television after seeing it and a further two said their children had nightmares as a result.


However, the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC), which clears television adverts before transmission, said that, at the time of clearing the advertisements for broadcast, it did not believe a timing restriction was required. It claimed the adverts featured “very mild horror that was clearly over the top and comical”. It said the blob was not shown attacking people, no one was hurt by it and its pursuit of the crowd was in a cartoon style that would be familiar to very young viewers.

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The BACC also said it believed that the ending of the adverts, where a character was shown emerging from the blob unharmed and happy, reinforced the idea that the blob was not a thing of terror.


In light of the complaints, Unilever Bestfoods UK said it would revise the adverts’ broadcast schedule to ensure they were not shown in or around children’s programmes or on children’s channels. The company also argued that the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) had given the advertisements a U (Universal) rating for cinema transmission.


The ASA agreed that the adverts should not be broadcast in or around children’s programming and said it considered that the adverts should carry an ex-kids restriction to ensure that they avoided children’s programming.