The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a Scottish Power TV ad featuring celebrity architect and TV personality George Clarke for “misleading viewers”.
According to the regulator, there was potential for viewers to be misled into thinking the ad was part of Clarke’s Channel 4 programme ‘Amazing Spaces’ after it received three complaints claiming that the spot was “indistinguishable” from the show.
The ad in question ran on Channel 4 during ‘Amazing Spaces’ ad breaks, opening with the text “George Clarke’s amazing green spaces” in a similar font and style as the programme itself.
Responding to the ASA’s ban, the Glasgow-based energy firm pointed out that they included the text “ad” in the top right corner for the first 12 seconds, which was shown throughout the headline text displayed at the beginning and during George Clarke’s introductory remarks.
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The firm added that there were also three verbal references to Scottish Power within George Clarke’s dialogue and that in total, 43 seconds out of the total 60-second ad contained a visual identifier which signalled to the viewer that it was an ad.
Ultimately upholding its ruling, the ASA stated: “We considered viewers were unlikely to quickly recognise the message as an ad distinguishable from editorial content and were instead likely to believe they were watching a programme. We therefore concluded that the ad breached the Code.”
Under current British advertising regulations, broadcast ads must be obviously distinguishable from editorial content – to prevent the audience being confused between the two, and the audience should quickly recognise the message as an ad.
