Ice cream ad 'too sexy', says complaints board

A television advertisement wrongly used sex to sell Magnum ice creams, the Advertising Standards Complaints Board says.

The board received a complaint about the advert for the "Sixties Nine Magnums" range, which featured three naked people entwined in a furniture store bed.

Viewers were encouraged to "take another bite of the sixties" with the ice creams.

The board upheld that complaint, saying the advert "used sexual appeal simply to draw attention to an unrelated product", in breach of the advertising code.

The only reference to the product was at the end of the advert after a prolonged "bed" scene, the board said in a statement.

"In the board's view the presentation was not saved by humour."

- NZPA