ASA investigates ‘bad taste’ Burger King advertisement

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is investigating an ad for Burger King featuring a cow wearing a BK-branded blanket. The ASA has received 70 complaints about the “&£1.99er”ad for the chain’s freshly baked baguettes, in which the cow appears behind a folk singer in a field.

Viewers have complained that the ad is cruel and in bad taste as it implies that the cow is about to be slaughtered.

⢠The ASA has upheld complaints about a direct marketing campaign for a computer pupil-registration system that was sent to local authorities. The e-mail, from Anteon UK, focused on the apparent murder of a schoolboy to promote its “anti-truancy and first-day contact system” that allows schools to notify parents when pupils do not attend school. It claimed that the device could “help reduce the possibility” of similar tragedies.

The ASA found that the product did not prevent pupils from playing truant and ruled that the use of the child’s death was “potentially offensive and distressing”.

⢠A Wanadoo campaign created by M&C Saatchi has fallen foul of the ASA after complaints from Telewest Broadband and BT.

The rivals claimed the ads were misleading over issues of price and did not follow the rules governing comparisons with other suppliers.

The authority agreed that several claims made in the campaign were misleading and has ordered Wanadoo to amend the ads.