ASA rules in favour of Scottish organ donor encouragement ads

Complaints against a Scottish Government ad campaign that aimed to encourage people to sign up as organ donors have not been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The “Kill Jill” campaign, created by the Union, showed an image of a young girl’s head against a black background. A voiceover said: “Would you allow your organs to save a life? You have 20 seconds to decide.” The girl’s face then started to fade gradually and become distorted. The voiceover continued: “Kill Jill. Yes or no?”The ad triggered ten complaints because it implied that people who did not register as organ donors were killing people. One viewer objected that it was likely to cause distress to children.

The ASA noted that the ad has been given an ex-kids restriction, which helped to prevent it being seen by very young children. It also noted that the ad was hard-hitting and referred to a difficult and sensitive subject matter, which could be upsetting for some.

But it considered that in the context of the important message it was promoting, the ad was unlikely to mislead or cause serious or widespread offence.

v Complaints made by retailer Morrisons on comparative ads by rival Asda have been upheld for using time-sensitive price promotions such as buy one get one free.

The ASA ruled that Asda was not clear on “who’s weekly shop” the ad referred to between a family of four, a couple or a single person.

The national press ad campaign, created by Fallon, compared weekly shops. One execution shows a trolley with a 44-item weekly shop, and another compares a 48-item weekly shop.

The ASA also noted that it had told Asda in a previous adjudication that it should make it clear when promotional prices were compared with non-promotional prices and was concerned that Asda had repeated the error.