ASA Adjudication on Virgin Media Television Ltd

Ad

A press ad, for a TV dating show, appeared in The Metro as part of a series. Text stated “‘How do you spot a ginger in the dark?’ … LOOKS OR PERSONALITY WHO WINS?”.

Issue

Three complainants objected that the ad was offensive to people with ginger hair, because they believed it implied those people were unattractive.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Virgin Media Television Ltd (Virgin) said the ad was not intended to cause offence but to promote the programme Dating in the Dark by reflecting participants comments and emotions.  They said the premise of the programme was to challenge peoples perceptions of attractiveness and encourage decisions based on personality as well as looks.  They said other ads that had appeared included text such as He says he works in radio.  I just hope he doesnt have the face for itand When the lights come on I just hope I havent been kissing Shrek The series of ads included interpretations of events in the series and quotation marks were used to show the remark was made by a participant and was not the view of the advertiser.  Virgin said although the ad was a one-off and they were prepared not to use it again in future, they believed it was not offensive.  

The Metro said they felt the ad was suitable for publication because their readers were young, intelligent, professionals in major British cities. They believed their readers would not have misunderstood the ad and would not have been offended by it.  They said they had not received any complaints about the ad.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA acknowledged Virgin were prepared not to use the ad in future.  We noted it referred to "a ginger" and stated " ... LOOKS OR PERSONALITY WHO WINS?".  We noted the ad included quotation marks but considered it was unclear that the text How do you spot a ginger in the dark? ... " was the view of a participant in the programme, in particular because the ad did not make clear the nature of the show.  We considered the text was likely to be interpreted, particularly in the context of the other ads that appeared in the series, as a statement that reflected a choice between looks and personality, with How do you spot a ginger in the dark? ... " being a suggestion that people with ginger hair were unattractive.   We considered the ad was unlikely to be interpreted to be light hearted in tone and was instead likely to be seen as prejudicial against people with ginger hair.  We concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious offence.

The ad breached CAP Code clause 5.1 (Decency).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.  We told Virgin to ensure that their future marketing communications did not contain anything that was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)