Independent agent Lamb and Co Property has been rapped on the knuckles for using a potty-mouthed sheep in its poster ad.

The Clacton-based family firm’s billboard at the entrance of Waterglade Retail Park featured an image of a sheep, alongside large text which asked, “What the flock you looking at?”, with the word “flock” emphasised in gold font, adding: “We’re baa-rilliant at getting your property noticed too”.

Not everyone saw the funny side and someone complained the ad was offensive, made worse because of its location where it could be seen by children. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) agreed that it was likely to cause serious offence and ordered the firm to take it down.

Essex-based Lamb & Co Property insisted that the brand was known locally for using wordplay, sheep visuals and sheep terminology to convey its business to consumers in a unique way.

It thought the ad conveyed humour and cheekiness rather than a negative or derogatory tone associated with expletives – reinforced by the sheep with its tongue sticking out. It didn’t believe that a child would understand that the word ‘fuck’ had been substituted for the word ‘flock’.

Flock’s sake

However, the ASA ruled: “We considered that many people would understand the word ‘flock’ was used as an alternative to the word ‘fuck’, and that it alluded to the expression ‘What the fuck are you looking at?’.

“We considered that ‘fuck’ was a word so likely to offend that it should not generally be used or alluded to in advertising, regardless of whether it was used in a playful manner. We considered it likely that parents would want their children to avoid the word, or obvious allusions to it.”

The national poster firm that hosted the ad, Billboard Media, took a different view to the ASA, awarding Lamb & Co its ‘Campaign of the Month’ in January this year.

Read about another case where an estate agency was referred to the ASA for ‘inappropriate’ poster ads.