Thursday 2 June 2011

One Complaint? We Don't Need Even One Stinkin' Complaint!

The ad, for the new BT Yahoo! Mail Beta product, showed two women in the convertible with the passing scenery blurred.
No complaints were received but the Advertising Standards Authority said it could be seen to ‘condone irresponsible driving’
Wha..?

They received no complaints at all, yet they see fit to lecture the company anyway, simply because their staff feel it's not 'showing the right message'?

When the hell did that become part of their remit?
A spokesman for the ASA said: 'We considered that because the ad showed the car against a blurred background and was headlined "Faster is funner", speed was the key message of the ad.

'We concluded that the combination of the headline and the image, portrayed speed in a way that might encourage motorists to drive irresponsibly and could therefore be seen to condone anti-social behaviour and irresponsible driving.

'The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Yahoo! not to portray speed in a way that might encourage motorists to drive irresponsibly in future.'
/facepalm

Hey, those cuts? Clearly, there's more to be made. Start here, please.

4 comments:

Uncle Badger said...

Ha! BT broadband? It should have been the Trade Description Act for that shower!

How typical of one of these government funded jobs-for-Guardian-readers outfits that they miss the one useful thing they could be doing in favour of doing something that brings a smile to Nanny's face.

Lynne said...

This would be the same ASA that failed to see any problem with the bedtime climate alarmist drowning puppy story...

Dr Evil said...

I normally use Firefox but the other day I was reduced to IE. when I tried to bookmark a site the damn thing refused unless I registered with Yahoo. Bastards! Needless to say that machine now has the latest edition of Firefox as the default browser.

As for the ASA. busybodies and prodnoses.

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