The advertising watchdog has banned a radio ad for implying that all Germans are "tyrannical".

The radio campaign, for recruitment firm Reed Online, featured a man speaking to his boss, who responded in German in loud, staccato bursts evocative of the speeches of Adolf Hitler.

At the end of the 30-second ad a voiceover ran: "Boss a bit of a tyrant? Find your perfect boss on the UK's biggest job site."

The Advertising Standards Authority received 13 complaints that the ad was offensive to Germans because it used an outdated stereotype and implied that all Germans were tyrants.

Reed Online did not comment on the complaints when asked to do so by the ASA. The Radio Advertising Clearance Centre, which clears ads before they are aired, believed most listeners would regard the scenario as humorous and inoffensive. Although the RACC did not refer to Hitler by name, it said that the character was a generic "German-sounding orator".

The ASA said that stereotypes were inevitable in a short radio ad, but that these should not perpetuate damaging misconceptions. It said that the humour in the ad, by agency Contagious, was "derived from a stereotype at the expense of German people".

"We considered that the portrayal suggested that German people were more likely to be unreasonable or aggressive to others," the ASA added.

"We concluded that, given the extreme reaction and aggressive tone of the German-speaking boss, the ad reinforced a negative and outdated cultural stereotype of German people as overpowering and tyrannical and therefore the ad had the potential to cause serious offence to some listeners".

The ASA banned the ad.

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