ASA Adjudication on Specsavers Optical Group Ltd

Ad

A TV ad, for Specsavers Optical Group (Specsavers), showed a man and a woman sitting in the garden of a large building; people in white coats were walking around. The man was sitting in a chair, wearing a dressing gown, with a blanket covering his legs; there was a table next to him on which stood bottles of medicine. The woman was sitting on a bench next to him. The man said "It came out of the blue really. I just wasn't expecting it"; the woman said "It was enormous. Huge". The man continued "Everything went black. I don't remember much about what happened afterwards"; the woman interrupted "He had to be resuscitated". The man said "It was the scale of it. I wasn't expecting a price like that. I should've gone to Specsavers like Janet next door"; the woman said "She's in Malibu now". The ad then showed a woman relaxing on a beach and a voice-over gave details of Specsavers services.

Issue

39 viewers, some of whom believed the ad closely resembled ads by health charities, challenged whether the ad was offensive and distressing, especially to people who had experienced directly, or through a relative, a serious illness, disability, trauma or accident.

BCAP TV Code

Response

Specsavers apologised for any offence the ad had caused. They said the ad was intended to be humorous and light-hearted.

The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) believed health charity advertising was generally more upbeat and positive than the ad and, had they believed there were any similarities between the Specsavers ad and health charity advertising, they would have flagged that as a sensitive issue with Specsavers. They believed the scenario of a man needing to recuperate in a home after finding out the price of glasses was clearly an exaggeration of real life and took the action away from reality and into the realms of humour.

The BACC believed it was clear that the man in the dressing gown had not suffered any serious illness, disability, trauma or accident, because the ad explained that the reason for his condition was that his glasses had been too expensive. They said they were very sensitive to issues such as trauma and injury and would object to an advertiser using those subjects in order to sell products.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA acknowledged that some viewers were personally distressed by the ad, especially those who had experienced personally, or through a relative, a serious illness, disability, trauma or accident. We considered, however, that, although it was not immediately apparent, the ad soon revealed it was advertising glasses and was likely to be seen as a light-hearted reference to the shock the man had felt on hearing the price of a pair of glasses, not a reference to a serious condition. We considered that, although the ad might not be to everyones taste, it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence or cause serious distress to a significant number of viewers.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 6.1 (Offence) and 6.4 (Personal distress) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)