Ad description
Two ads promoted Barclays Business banking. All featured background breaking news style music and they each included an interview with a Barclays customer.
a. One radio ad featured an interview with an automotive business manager.
b. A second radio ad included an interview with a printer business owner.
Issue
Three listeners, one of whom was a solicitor, believed the ads were in the style of a news report and challenged whether the ad was obviously distinguishable from editorial content.
Response
Barclays Bank plc said the ads were customer testimonials in the style of an interview with real business customers of Barclays Bank, and Barclays Bank was mentioned several times throughout the ads. They said various straplines and legal caveats were included which pointed to the ads being promotional, the interviewer was not a presenter from the radio stations and the style of music used was different to recognised station branding. They said it was common practice in radio advertising to engage the listener at the opening of an ad and if an ad began with an advertiser's name the listener would be more likely to miss that reference. Therefore they did not consider the lack of a reference to Barclays Bank in the opening seconds of the ad would have made it more likely that the ads would be confused with editorial material.
Barclays Bank said the ads were aired during recognised advertising slots and could have appeared at the start, middle or end of ad breaks which would have been clearly identified by presenter link and station identification.
The RACC said that they considered the content was editorial style, but was unlikely to be confused with actual programming, including news broadcasts. They said that was based on several factors, such as the background sound, which in that case was not a station sound and did not mimic a news bulletin, the advertiser’s name was introduced early in the ad and the interviewer was not an identifiable station presenter. Furthermore, they said the ads were clearly introduced alongside other ads and the end content clearly signposted listeners to the fact that it was advertising. They said because music stations did not regularly contain editorial content, the ads would have been recognised as advertising. They also said that when the complaints came to light, one broadcaster ensured future ads played mid-break only.
Global Radio reiterated Barclays Bank’s' and the RACC's points that listeners would be familiar with the ending of a news bulletin and the start of advertising material, that the advertiser's name was mentioned several times throughout the ads and the music was sufficiently different to the recognised station themes. They said that if the ads had not featured music, they would have sounded more like editorial content. Global Radio also provided scheduling information, which they said showed that just over 10% of the total number of the ads that were heard on one station, had aired at the start of an ad break. They said the break was signposted with a clear link that promoted future content which was to be heard after the ad break. They said the scheduling information also showed that on an additional station, all ads were aired midway through or at the end of ad breaks. Furthermore, the other station on which listeners had heard the ads did not feature editorial content of a business or financial nature.
Global Radio said that the ads were also booked onto a talk and phone-in radio station and because the announcer featured in the ads had worked at that station until mid-2013, they produced a separate version with a different announcer.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA noted that BCAP Code rule 2.2 2.2 If used in an advertisement, an expression or sound effect associated with news bulletins or public service announcements (for example, "news flash") needs special care. The audience should quickly recognise the message as an advertisement. stated that if an ad featured elements associated with a news bulletin then the audience should be able to quickly recognise the message as an ad and because of that, we did not consider that the legal caveats, spoken at the end of the ads, would alone have alerted listeners that they were ads. However, the ads, both around 40 seconds in length, stated the name "Barclays" around 10 and 17 seconds into the ads, which was again repeated throughout and that made clear to listeners that it was advertising, because we considered editorial content was unlikely to promote an advertiser or their services.
The ads opened with background music which sounded similar to that often used for 'breaking news' but we acknowledged that it was not reminiscent of the relevant radio stations' themes, neither had the ads featured station presenters. Furthermore, the music was played throughout the ads which we considered was not a general feature of the relevant news bulletins and we concurred that had music been absent from the ads, this was likely to give the impression that they were editorial in content.
We noted that only a small proportion of the ads were heard at the start of an ad break on one radio station, which we understood included features that served to separate editorial from ad content and that the ads were also aired away from that station's daily business bulleting. Furthermore, the two additional stations did not feature editorial content similar to the ads which we considered helped ensure further that the ads were recognisable as advertising.
Because the style of the ads and announcers differed from recognisable station content featured on the broadcasting stations, we considered the ads were obviously distinguishable from editorial content and we concluded they had not breached the Code.
We investigated the ads under BCAP Code rules 2.1 2.1 Advertisements must be obviously distinguishable from editorial content, especially if they use a situation, performance or style reminiscent of editorial content, to prevent the audience being confused between the two. The audience should quickly recognise the message as an advertisement. and 2.2 2.2 If used in an advertisement, an expression or sound effect associated with news bulletins or public service announcements (for example, "news flash") needs special care. The audience should quickly recognise the message as an advertisement. (Recognition of marketing communications), but did not find them in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
