South Africa, Feb. 12 -- Replicable behaviour

In a ruling issued by its Directorate, the ARB found that the ad, as currently flighted in adult viewing timeslots, does not contravene the Code of Advertising Practice, which governs advertising likely to influence children.

The complaint centred on a surreal sequence in which a man carrying a small "Tops" cooler box moves through a series of fantastical settings. In one scene, set in a laundromat, he leaps into what appears to be a washing machine filled with bubbles and emerges in a different location. The advert concludes with the tagline: "Tops at Spar - Turn up epic!" and carries an on-screen disclaimer throughout: "Not for persons under the age of 18."

The complainant argued that the...