MUMBAI: British advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has banned a radio ad featuring a man speaking loudly in German and the voice over asking, "Is your boss a bit of a tyrant?"

Thirteen complaints were filed for the ad for recruitment firm Reed which was banned by the ASA for using 'outdated stereotypes' and implying Germans were tyrants. It banned the ad for breaching rules on good taste and decency.

The advert for the Reed Online recruitment agency featured a man speaking to his boss, who responded angrily and loudly in German. The voice-over said: "Boss a bit of a tyrant? Find your perfect boss on the UK's biggest job site ..."

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that, given the extreme reaction and aggressive tone of the German speaking boss, the ad reinforced a negative and outdated cultural stereotype of German people as overpowering and tyrannical and therefore the ad had the potential to cause serious offense to some listeners."

Reed did not comment but industry body the Radio Advertising Clearance Center said it believed most listeners would regard the scenario as humorous and inoffensive.

It said the boss character was a generic "German-sounding orator," which they believed was a well established type in British comedy culture.