ASA bans misleading Bosch ad for dishwashers

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has censured white goods brand Bosch for a television ad that claimed its dishwashers always use less water than washing up by hand.

The ad, created by Euro RSCG London, showed a woman washing up at a sink with a voiceover saying: “washing up by hand uses up to three times more water than if you used a fully loaded Bosch dishwasher.”

It added: “You could be saving up to 75% of your water. That’s more than a shower everyday…”The ASA ruled that the ad is misleading because it implies that washing up by hand would always use more water than a fully loaded Bosch dishwasher.

It also did not make clear that while some hand dishwashing techniques, particularly those using running water some or all of the time are less water-efficient than a dishwasher, others are potentially more so.

The Bosch dishwasher ad, according to the regulator, cannot be broadcast again in its current form.

The ASA has not upheld complaints against another television ad for denture adhesive Fixodent, which a viewer claimed brought on an epileptic seizure.

The ad, which was created by Saatchi & Saatchi, showed a couple sitting in a cinema laughing at the screen while eating popcorn without worrying about their dentures.

The ASA consulted Ofcom for further analysis of the Fixodent ad. Ofcom said that even though the ad contained some slight flickering, it was well below the limits set out in the “flashing images guidance”.

Procter & Gamble-owned Fixodent has said that the ad was no longer being broadcast, but could go on air again in the future.