ASA Adjudication on Asda Financial Services Ltd

Ad

A TV ad for life assurance, from Asda, broadcast on 28 February, for people aged over 50 featured a man arriving home with his shopping. The man said "I'd been meaning to get some life cover but I wasn't sure where to go." At the same time, on-screen text stated "For people aged 50 - 80 living in the UK". The man continued "Then I saw that Asda were offering over 50s life cover ... So I gave them a call. I didn't have to answer any health questions; I didn't have to visit my GP. I just had to be aged between 50 and 80, which I am, and live in the UK, which I do ... If you want to find out more about Asda's over 50s life cover, call today on 0800 xxx xxxx or visit Asda.com."

Issue

A viewer challenged whether the claim "I didn't have to answer any health questions" was misleading, because when he tried to buy the advertised life assurance he was asked if he was a smoker.

BCAP Code

Response

Asda Financial Services (Asda) believed that asking a person whether they were a smoker was a lifestyle question. They explained that all applicants were asked whether they were a smoker or a non-smoker and that they offered the same rate to all smokers and another rate to all non smokers. They said asking, for example, a question about the number of cigarettes smoked or the impact smoking had on the applicants health would be considered a health question.

However, Asda said that the application process did not assess the health of a smoker or the impact of the smoking habit, but queried whether the applicant had made the lifestyle choice to smoke. They said that no questions about the number of cigarettes smoked were asked during the application process.

Asda said its application process followed guidelines produced by the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Association of British Insurers (ABI). Those guidelines stated that asking an applicant whether they were a smoker or non smoker was considered a lifestyle question. Asda did not believe the ad was misleading.

Clearcast endorsed Asdas response to the complaint. They added that as smoking was not a health condition, being asked if you were a smoker was, therefore, not a health question.

Assessment

Not Upheld

The ASA noted that Asda had followed the BMA and ABI guidelines in considering smoking to be a lifestyle choice. We noted Asda did not ask specific questions about the number of cigarettes smoked or health problems attributed to smoking as part of its application process; it only established whether or not the applicant was a smoker.

We considered that viewers would understand that the claim "I didnt have to answer any health questions" related to questions about their existing health conditions and medical information. We noted that the choice to smoke and indeed other lifestyle choices could have an impact on health but we concluded that viewers generally would make a distinction and would not consider a question about their smoking status to be a health question. We concluded that the claim was not misleading.

We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.9 (Substantiation) and 3.10 (Qualifications) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)