ASA Adjudication on LG Electronics UK Ltd

Ad

A TV ad for a mobile phone opened with a woman stuck in her car in a traffic jam. The ad then showed a close up of the mobile phone, as a woman's finger touched the bottom touch screen of the phone. As the ad cut back to the woman in her car, a touch point appeared at the bottom of the ad. The image then rotated to feature the woman in a motor boat. Next, a woman was shown stretching out above her office desk. The top half of the screen rotated to show the woman lying on an inflatable in a swimming pool. As the touch point appeared at the bottom of the screen, the screen rotated to show a male torso, before rotating back to show the matching bottom half of the female torso. The ad then featured a woman dressmaker using a manikin. The touch point appeared at the bottom of the screen which rotated to show the woman's legs wearing a skirt and dancing. On-screen text and a voice-over stated "Moodswing? Modeswing!". The top half of the screen then rotated to show the woman wearing the dress and dancing in full. The mobile phone then appeared over the woman, who was shown on the phone's screen. A finger pressed the bottom touch screen of the phone as the on-screen text and voice-over stated "By just a touch".

Issue

33 viewers challenged whether the ad was likely to encourage dangerous behaviour, because they believed it showed the woman using her mobile phone while driving.

BCAP TV Code

Response

LG Electronics UK Ltd (LG) explained that the shot of the mobile phone was not intended to look like it was being used by the woman in the car, rather the woman was imagining that the phone could trigger the changing scenarios in her day and therefore her mood.

LG said the phone was shown in a neutral location. They argued that there was no evidence that the ad encouraged people to use their mobile phone while driving.

Clearcast said the issue of whether the woman looked as though she was using the phone in the car had been discussed at length. They said the woman's hands were on the steering wheel while she was in the traffic jam, there was then a cut away shot of the phone in use, and then the ad cut back to show the woman in the same position in the car. Clearcast explained that the woman had not used her phone at all whilst sat in the traffic jam, but had instead imagined what she could be doing on her phone instead of being stuck in the traffic.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted LG's argument that the mobile phone was shown in a neutral location in the ad, and we acknowledged that the ad distinguished between the scene featuring the woman in the traffic jam and the scene showing the phone being used. We also acknowledged that the woman's hands were on the steering wheel of the car when the ad cut back to her. We considered, however, that the sequence of images of the woman in her car, before and after the image of the mobile phone, implied that she had been using her mobile phone whilst at the wheel of her car. We considered that the ad could condone viewers' use of their mobile phones while driving, and we therefore concluded that the ad was in breach.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 6.7 (Health and safety).

Action

The ad must not be shown again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)