Woking, Friday: McLaren’s Formula One team is preparing to fire up its legal department once again, after allegations of subliminal advertising rocked the British outfit today.
A Cotswold-based pressure group is planning to file a lawsuit against the Woking-based team, claiming that their chrome livery constitutes a “subliminal advertisement” for bath taps.
“It’s a disgrace,” said Reginald Scrotum, Conservative MP for the Cotswold constituency of Bigotry and Shouting, and patron of the Coalition for Robust Advertising Policies. “The advertisement of bathroom furniture is strictly controlled under European Union directives, and for too long McLaren have been allowed to get away with flouting these regulations by subliminally displaying the colour scheme of a major bath tap conglomerate on their cars.”
McLaren claim that, despite their car’s colour scheme, they are doing nothing wrong: “It’s no secret that our livery reflects our close association with a particular company,” a McLaren spokesman said. “However, by declining to display their name on our cars, we are confident that we are in compliance with all aspects of the law governing this matter.”
The Coalition for Robust Advertising Policies, however, disagree: “It’s a clear case of brand association,” Scrotum continued. “Why else would the team insist on covering their cars in such a foul livery? Obviously the message is to associate the cars with bath taps, and this is unacceptable.”
Legal action by the Coalition could force McLaren to change their team’s colour scheme to something more tasteful, but the team are confident that this is a long way off: “We are certainly not considering reevaluating our association at this stage,” the spokesman said. “After all, it is a commercial agreement that has left us – do I really have to say this? – flushed with success.”
