Banned: The Vodafone advert just too fast for radio

Davey Winder
Thursday, 11 September 2008 14:24

IT Policy - Regulation

That ASA ruling against Vodafone, stated that a listener had challenged whether the qualification of:

"Subject to status, availability and connection to 18-month contract. Unlimited calls to landlines or Vodafone Mobiles only. Fair-use policy, terms and 60-minute call cap applies" was clear because it was spoken quickly at the end of the ad and was difficult to hear.

Vodafone argued that it was "well established that, where it was necessary to qualify claims or offers made in radio ads, it was acceptable to summarise them at the end in the way this example did."

Bloody quickly, in other words.

Vodafone insisted that words were spoken by a woman in her natural voice and were not speeded up in post-production. It certainly did not agree that it was in any way misleading.

The Radio Advertising Clearance Centre said the producers of the ad had been advised to ensure that the qualifications were audible. Then went on to agree with Vodafone that the words were "still easy to understand."

The ASA, however, concluded that "because they were delivered too quickly, the important terms and conditions were not clearly audible and the ad could mislead listeners." The ad must not, therefore, be broadcast again in its current form.

And the moral of this story? Don't let bored old farts listen to the radio...