It featured a small image of a bottle of Tiger Beer in the top left-hand corner labelled as "The Far East's most desirable export since 1932". In the foreground there was a large image of a man wearing black stockings, knickers and a bra with a star saying "3rd" placed over his groin.
The Advertising Standards Authority received eight complaints from people who said the image of the person, who some believed to be a woman, was offensive because it linked exports with a person in a sexually provocative pose, which they felt was inappropriate given reports of human trafficking for the sex trade.
Some of the complainants also objected that the ad was offensive and disrespectful to Eastern culture because it implied beer and sex were some of the best things to come out of the region.
Tiger Beer defended the ad saying that ladyboys, which generally refers to a male-to-female transgender person or an effeminate gay male in Thailand, were a famous export of the Far East worldwide and the image in the ad was representative of a cabaret performer rather than a prostitute or model.
The campaign was intended to reflect Tiger Beer's Far Eastern heritage by presenting it in the context of other recognised exports including ladyboys, tuk tuks, chop sticks and acupuncture. However, Tiger Beer said that since running the ads it realised members of the public beyond the target audience could have misinterpreted them and has decided to remove the ladyboy image from the campaign.
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