ASA Adjudication on Datel Group plc

Ad

An ad for a breath-testing device was broadcast on Max TV. The female presenter explained “… We all know that drinking and driving is certainly not acceptable and is of course something you should never take a gamble on … if you know you are going to be drinking then you really shouldn’t drive at all … but the fact is that many drink drivers are the people that never intended to break the law and thought that a couple of drinks would be OK … with one of these alcohol breath testers you’ll be able to decide whether you really are safe to get behind the wheel … it may just stop you from getting in the car, say, the morning after a heavy night when you might think that you are safe to drive but actually you’re still over the legal limit and therefore breaking the law. For the sake of less than £10 … you could be fined, banned from driving, having a criminal record or even worse causing a serious accident. It really is a no brainer. Please don’t take the risk”.

Issue

Monitoring staff challenged whether the ad promoted an unacceptable product as defined by rule 3.1 (a).

BCAP TV Code

Response

Max TV explained the ad had been broadcast for nine months.  They did not explain why they believed the ad was acceptable to be broadcast but eventually offered to withdraw it.

Assessment

1. Upheld

Although we welcomed Max TVs confirmation that the ad had been withdrawn, the ASA was concerned that Max TV had delayed responding in full to our enquiries.

Because they promoted a breath-testing device, a product defined by the Code as unacceptable, we considered the ad breached the Code.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code 3.1 (a) (Unacceptable categories).

Action

The ad must not be broadcast again.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)