ASA Adjudication on Royal & SunAlliance Insurance Group plc

Ad

A radio ad, for More Th>n insurance, stated "More is giving all new motor insurance customers one-month free cover in the first year, then two months free cover in the second year and then two months free cover for every year after that, unless you claim. For a free quote visit morethan.com or call 0800 xxxx. More Th>n. We do more". A motor horn was heard in the background as the voice-over mentioned one month free cover, twice at the mention of two months free cover, and then continuously at the second mention of two months.

Issue

A listener said the sound of the motor horn distracted him while he was driving because he thought it came from another car.  He believed the ad was potentially harmful to listeners driving in their cars.

BCAP Radio Code

Response

Fallon, on behalf of More Than, said they did not believe the sound effect was in itself distracting because it was contextualised within the ad and the car horn sound was old-fashioned.  They said, when they first presented the written script to the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC), they were advised that the car horn sound effect should not be too loud in the overall mix of the ad and should be under the voice-over.  Fallon said, before they recorded the ad, they sent a horn sound effect to the RACC to ensure that it would not be problematic and were told that it was acceptable. They said the final recording was approved by the RACC.  They said this was the only complaint they had received, which they believed showed that the ad was not causing a problem.

The RACC said they took the issue of distracting traffic noise seriously when clearing ads.  They said, in this case, once they were sure that the particular choice of sound effect and its position within the ad was unlikely to cause a dangerous distraction to drivers, they cleared the ad.  They believed the fact that there had only been one complaint demonstrated that the ad was not genuinely distracting to motorists.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA acknowledged that in some cases radio sound effects might be distracting for listeners, but noted the actions Fallon and the RACC had taken to ensure that the car horn sound effect would not confuse motorists while driving.  We considered that the sound effect was muted and, because it was not at the start of the ad, listeners were likely to understand that it was part of the ad, rather than an external noise.  In the circumstances, we concluded that the ad was unlikely to be a dangerous distraction to motorists.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code Section 2, rule 25 (Sound effects) but did not find it in breach.   

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)