ASA Adjudication on The Ski & Outdoor Warehouse Ltd

Ad

An e-mail, for skiwear4less.com, was headed "Skiers & Boarders!". Below, text stated "We regret to inform you that British actress Natasha Richardson has died in hospital this morning, after suffering a head injury in a skiing accident in Mont Tremblant, Canada. The actress fell and hit her head during a supervised ski lesson on a nursery slope. She was not wearing a helmet at the time. She initially appeared coherent but an hour later complained of a headache. As her condition worsened, she was flown to a hospital near her home in New York City, where her family gathered. Neeson's publicist announced her death. "Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha," he said ... As a ski retailer & ski enthusiasts, our thoughts go out to the family during this tragic time. We hope this doesn't discourage future skiers from participating in this exciting and invigorating sport. Injury rates on the slopes have been decreasing over the years & the overall injury risk is about 0.2 - 0.4%. We, as a company, strongly recommend the wearing of ski helmets by children and adults, in light of this and other tragedies. To encourage the wearing of ski helmets, we have reduced the prices of both kids & adults ski helmets and are offering FREE POSTAGE on all ski helmets. Our full range of ski helmets can be viewed by clicking here ...". The e-mail included a picture of Natasha Richardson and a number of ski helmets with prices.

Issue

Two recipients believed the e-mail was offensive, because it used the recent death of Natasha Richardson to sell the advertiser's ski helmets.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

The Ski & Outdoor Warehouse (Ski & Outdoor) said their e-mail was a newsletter and not an ad. They believed that the two were quite different, because a newsletter responded to recent current events in the same way as a newspaper, TV or radio. They said Ms Richardson had just died and they believed e-mail was the quickest and best way to inform their client base of the news. They said the e-mail was written with great sadness that any life should end in such a way and believed that, if Ms Richardson had been wearing a ski helmet, such a tragic accident might not have happened. They said the e-mail was an attempt to stop such accidents happening.

Ski & Outdoor believed that informing their clients that a famous actress had died in tragic circumstances was not offensive, otherwise every newspaper and TV station would be an offensive medium. They believed the e-mail was factually written and handled with particular care and had not offended most of the recipients. They said, if they were able to stop one similar accident happening by telling people that they should wear a ski helmet, and by making ski helmets more affordable, they believed they were justified in offending the two complainants. They said, however, that they did not set out to cause offence to any recipient; they were attempting to help people enjoy an exciting and invigorating sport in the safest possible manner.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted Ski & Outdoor's intention was to promote the wearing of ski helmets to make the sport safer and used Natasha Richardsons death to highlight the dangers of not wearing protective headgear. We acknowledged that advertisers were entitled to refer to current news stories in their ads, but noted the need for particular care how such stories were used, especially those involving a death, to avoid accusations of exploitation in order to sell goods. We noted Ski & Outdoor's e-mail initially appeared to be a news report, including a quote from Ms Richardsons husband's publicist, rather than an offer of ski helmets at reduced prices. We also noted it was sent on the same day that the actress died. We considered that reporting the actress death in such a manner, and in such detail, in order to sell ski helmets was likely to be seen as insensitive by recipients and was likely to cause serious offence to some. We concluded that the e-mail breached the Code.

The e-mail breached CAP Code clauses 5.1 and 5.2 (Decency) and 13.3 (Protection of privacy - deceased).

Action

The e-mail must not be used again. We advised The Ski & Outdoor Warehouse to seek CAP Copy Advice before advertising again.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)