ASA bans “unintelligible” Morrisons advert
The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that a radio advert broadcast by supermarket chain Morrisons must not be played again, after its central claim was held to be unintelligible.
The ASA ruled that the ad must not be broadcast again
A listener complained to the ASA because lines in the advert were spoken too quickly.
The ASA ruled that the final line in the copy was read faster than the main text.
The ad copy stated , "At Morrison's M Kitchen Takeaway Tikka Masala is half price, at £1.75, perfect for your Saturday night in. Morrison's. More of what matters. Most stores while stocks last. High price 27 Jan 17 Feb."
The ASA said the final sentence was delivered by "a voice at a faster speed than the rest of the preceding ad."
“Morrison's believed the final line of the ad was pronounced clearly and that the ad appeared to comply with current industry practice,” the ASA said.
“The Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC) said that, while the final line was read faster than the main text which contained the offer, they nevertheless considered listeners would still have been able to hear the words.”
In its ruling which upheld the complaint, the ASA said that: “the final line, which included information about when and for how long the higher price had been charged, contained material information which needed to be presented to listeners in a clear and intelligible manner.”
“We noted that the line was presented more quickly than the information in the rest of the ad and considered it was delivered too quickly and that the words were difficult to hear. Because of that, we concluded that the ad was misleading,” it added.
The ASA held that the broadcast breached BCAP Code rules 3.1 and 3.2 (Misleading advertising) and 3.10 and 3.11 (Qualification), and that the ad must not be broadcast again in its current form.