ITC shifts P&G Bounty ad to late-night slot

Procter & Gamble has been ordered to show one of its advertisements after the watershed, after two viewers found their children copying the ad by trying to balance hot teapots on a kitchen towel.

The ad for Bounty kitchen paper, through Leo Burnett, aimed to demonstrate the strength of the towel by showing a full coffee pot supported by a piece of the towel.

TV watchdog the Independent Television Commission said that the ad could be copied by children, a view supported by viewers’ complaints, and ruled it should be transmitted after 9pm.

Meanwhile, an advertising campaign through BMP DDB for Vodafone’s “Pay As You Talk” mobile phone service has been banned by the ITC because it risks misleading potential customers.

The ad compared Vodafone’s service with a public call box and described the mobile service as “a pay phone”.

The ITC agreed that unlike a call box, not all the money spent on Vodafone’s “Pay As You Talk” was available for call charges, as some of it paid for “service credits” giving access to the network.