ASA Adjudication on Adidas (UK) Ltd

Ad

A TV ad featured numerous celebrities and young people wearing Adidas clothes and shoes at a house party. It opened with a shot of a mural that said “CELEBRATE ORIGINALITY: adidas 60 - 09” and showed a party scene inside a house, with the crowd dancing and jumping, and with several shots of well-known musicians and athletes dancing, talking and playing cards. The singer Katy Perry was shown poking her leg out of a curtain, wearing red Adidas trainers. There was a close-up of someone's feet wearing white and silver Adidas trainers. There were more party scenes and shots of trainers. The ad concluded with on-screen text which stated "Celebrate originality" and showed the Adidas logo.

Issue

One viewer said the ad was misleading because two pairs of trainers featured in the ad were not available for purchase in the UK; the red trainers worn by Katy Perry and the white and silver trainers shown in close up.

BCAP TV Code

Response

Adidas said the ad was not developed as a retail ad, but to promote the Adidas Originals brand rather than any specific product.  The ad featured a number of people who wore a variety of Adidas Originals clothes and footwear.  The two pairs of trainers in question were shown very briefly and there were no prices or retail drivers included in the ad.

Clearcast said they wholly endorsed the advertiser's view and believed it was a celebratory brand ad marking the anniversary of Adidas trainers rather than a retail or product-driven ad highlighting a specific style for sale.  They said the aim of the ad was not to mislead but to reinforce Adidas-branded products promoted by several international artists, in an ad that would be broadcast globally.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted that those trainers featured in the ad were not available for sale in the UK.  However, we noted that a number of different Adidas products were featured throughout the ad and that it did not specifically linger on any particular item of clothing or footwear.  We noted that the trainers appeared relatively briefly, in amongst the other products, and did not consider that they were the main focus of the ad.  We noted that the ad did not feature the price of any items or make reference to any particular sales outlets.  We considered that the ad did not specifically focus on promoting the sale of any particular Adidas articles, but was rather aimed at promoting the brand in general, by using celebrities and a party atmosphere.

Because the ad focused on a variety of Adidas products aimed at promoting the Adidas brand, and because we considered it would be understood by viewers in that context, we concluded it was not misleading.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1.1 and 5.1.2 (Misleading advertising), but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)