A JD Sports London Underground advert has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for encouraging dangerous driving.
The advertising watchdog said that the ad – which appeared on TfL’s ad network in June of this year – “condoned and encouraged unsafe or irresponsible driving” and banned it from being shown again.
The poster itself was for both JD Sports and Adidas, and featured two people sitting in the front seats of a car. The driver was holding the steering wheel and looking straight ahead, as if driving.
A second image on the poster showed a car with someone sitting in the rear passenger seat, with their body and head outside the window, alongside groups of people gathering as part of a “street party scene”.
In its defence, JD Sports accepted the models had not been wearing seatbelts, but said there was no indication that either car was moving, so it did not believe the ad condoned or encouraged unsafe or inconsiderate driving practices.
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Under the advertising code drawn up by the Committee of Advertising Practice (the CAP Code) – marketing communications must not condone or encourage unsafe or irresponsible driving in a way that was “likely to condone or encourage a breach of the rules of the Highway Code”.
The sports retailer went on to say consumers would have known the ads were made to showcase Adidas clothing and footwear and not a car, highlighting that the car in the second image was parked as it did not have a driver and, therefore, the individual sitting out of the passenger window was not an “unsafe driving practice”.
It argued that as such, the image did not encourage consumers to drive irresponsibly.
The ASA said: “We acknowledged the assertion that the first image was created to showcase the clothes and the car may not have been moving at the time the image was taken.
“However, we considered that the overall impression created by the ad was that the car in the first image was being driven, and because neither individual featured was wearing a seatbelt, therefore that depicted a driving practice that was a breach of the Highway Code.”
The regulator concluded that the advert was in breach of the CAP Code and “must not appear again in the form complained of”.
JD Sports and Adidas were both warned to ensure that future advertising did not portray unsafe driving practices, and were prepared with a sense of social responsibility.
The TfL poster is the second time JD Sports has fallen foul of the ASA this year, after YouTuber, rapper and boxer KSI had an Instagram advertisement for the retailer banned by the watchdog in May.
