ASA upholds Barclays ad complaints
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a controversial Barclays Bank television ad after it received 293 complaints.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a controversial Barclays Bank television ad after it received 293 complaints.
The ad, which was created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, featured a man being stung by a wasp, developing an allergic reaction and being shot by police with a tranquiliser dart.
The ASA upheld complaints that the execution could be offensive to people with allergies and accepted that some viewers had felt “personal distress” watching the advertisement. It ruled the ad could not be shown again.
The ASA has also ruled that an ad for Nestlé-owned cereal Shreddies can no longer be shown in its current form because of concerns about the scientific validity of the ad. It claims that a good breakfast aids concentration in children, but the ASA ruled that the connection to Shreddies was not direct.
