Davey Winder
Thursday, 11 September 2008 15:24
IT Policy -
Regulation
Page 1 of 2
Let me repeat that, a little slower. A radio advert for a Vodafone mobile phone contract deal has been banned in the UK because the actress speaks too quickly.
The Advertising Standards Authority is the industry watchdog for the
advertising business in the UK, overseeing a self-policing system that
works well. Most of the time. In the case of an advert trying to sell
mobile phone contracts, however, things would appear to have gone
rather pear shaped.
All Vodafone wanted to do was sell a few mobile
phone packages. How does a bundle of unlimited calls and text messages,
wrapped up with some Internet access thrown in, sound?
Would it sound any better, or worse for that matter, if the actress
doing the voice-over spoke a little slower? No chance of that matey. In
fact, she managed to spit out a 30 word legal 'terms and conditions
apply' disclaimer in a shade under 8 seconds.
You can hear the
actual clip here
and make your own mind up as to whether it was too fast to comprehend
or not.
Not that it makes any difference because the ASA has made a ruling and
found against Vodafone. End result, the advert cannot be broadcast
again in the same form.
So, how many Mr Angry from the suburbs types did it take to give the
mobile phone giant a slap across the marketing choppers? 100 perhaps?
50 maybe? How about 1? Ding! That's right, just the one whinger was all
it took.
Apparently the numbers of complainers do not matter, the breaching of
the Radio Advertising Code does. Specifically the section which deals
with 'misleadingness.' This states quite clearly, and slowly, that a
radio advert is misleading if:
"...in any way, including its presentation, it deceives or is likely to
deceive the persons to whom it is addressed ... and if, by reason of
its deceptive nature, it is likely to affect their economic
behaviour..."
So how did Vodafone respond to the Advertising Standards Agency allegations? Find out on page 2...
CONTINUES
