DFS ad banned by ASA
A TV advert for DFS to promote its half price sale on the ‘Zeta’ collection, created by Uber, has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority.
The ad received one complaint when a viewer claimed that it was misleading because the orange sofa featured in the ad was not included in the sale price.
The client disagreed that it was misleading and said that it featured four sofas which were part of the collection which were half price alongside two other sofas that featured without pricing information that were not part of the collection.
DFS also said that it had been careful to ensure that no voice-over or graphic mentioned the promotion at the same time as either of the sofas not included in the sale were featured.
It also said that a similar approach has been used in previous adverts without complaint.
Clearcast admitted that it had previously cleared that advert for broadcast but that it was on the understanding that all sofas featured were half price.
As a result, the ASA agreed that while the advert did not feature a price for the orange sofa, and the voice over did not mention that it was part of the half-price sale, it was considered within the context of the sale as it featured within an advert promoting a half price sale.
It was therefore decided that the advert was misleading and has ruled that it should not be broadcast again in its current form.