Australian dessert spread brand Pistachio Papi has breached national advertising standards twice in the past month, according to rulings from the Ad Standards Community Panel, the body that judges whether ads align with community expectations. One of the offending ads was an AI-generated clip depicting a woman being hit by a truck.

The first case concerned a three-minute clip posted on the brand's Instagram account. Styled after a Hollywood action film, it shows a chase sequence in which a truck hits a woman twice, followed by a man riding a donkey who attacks a police officer. The panel reviewed the clip this month and found it breached the Australian Association of National Advertisers' Code of Ethics on multiple counts.

The ad "depicted unjustifiable violence, used strong or offensive language, and depicted behaviour that would likely be considered contrary to community standards on health and safety," the panel stated. An early scene, in which a male character suggests Botox injections may have "gone to the head" of a female character, helped "reduce the value of a person to that of an expendable commodity not worthy of respect or dignity," according to the panel's findings.

The panel also questioned the creative logic behind the ad.

"The Panel considered that these instances do not appear to have any relation or relevance to the product being advertised, which is a pistachio spread," the ruling reads.

Second breach: newsletter image

A second complaint targeted an image sent in an email newsletter showing two people raising their middle fingers to the camera. Text below the image read "WE'RE NOT F***ING AROUND!" Despite the asterisks, the panel judged the text was insufficiently censored and produced a "harmful, unacceptable" word in the ad without justification.

According to the case reports, Pistachio Papi removed neither ad. The three-minute clip remains live on the brand's Instagram page at the time of reporting.

Brand pushes back

Pistachio Papi did not mount detailed defences in either case. Instead, the company alleged it was being singled out by disgruntled consumers or competitors lodging complaints in bad faith.

"Our marketing has been the same for 3 years in terms of tone of voice, cheekiness and all of a sudden there is a cluster of complaints," the brand said in its response.

"We can't waste time, money and resources preparing detailed responses when anyone can lodge any complaint with no justification."

The brand, which sells pistachio spread and has built its identity around what it calls a "cheeky" tone of voice, defended that approach in the same response.

The rulings land at a moment when Australia's advertising regulator is paying closer attention to generative AI in advertising. Ad Standards has previously flagged AI's "potential to mislead" as the sector considers new disclosure rules for generative AI content, a question that has grown more pressing as brands increasingly use AI tools to produce campaign material at low cost.

For Pistachio Papi, the practical stakes so far appear limited: the panel's rulings carry no fine, and the offending ads remain online. But two code breaches in a single month create a documented record against the brand, and the company's stated refusal to prepare detailed responses to complaints leaves it exposed if further cases arrive.

SmartCompany contacted Pistachio Papi for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.