Car ad mechanics fuel ASA moans
The Diary does not own a car and thinks most motorists are stupid, so it came as no surprise to read about two particularly dopey car aficionados whingeing to the Advertising Standards Authority.
The first was complaining about an ad for a Saab 900 by Lowe Howard-Spink which ran: “We drove one around Alabama’s Talladega circuit for eight days and nights, non-stop, flat out (that’s 25,000 miles, 140mph)”. The complainant took the ad literally and complained that it was impossible to drive one car 25,000 miles at 140mph without stops for fuel, tyre changes, driver replacements and oil top-ups.
The second involved an ad for the Nissan Primera by TBWA, which loosely used a scientific motion formula and called on drivers to “defy physics”. Unfortunately, one member of the great British public, who must be good at maths, pointed out the Primera could not defy the laws of physics and that the ad had got the car’s trajectory all wrong.
Not surprisingly, neither complaint was upheld.
