These reports are case summaries of complaints which appeared to raise issues of substance in relation to the interpretation of the ITC Advertising Standards Code. Summary statistics of non-substantive complaints can be found in the full reports which are obtainable from the ITC.
Phones 4U - Plaster & Doll
Complaint from: 19 viewers
Background
This commercial for a mobile phone retailer was one in a series that has sought to make humour from a supposed embarrassment at owning an 'uncool' mobile phone. Here a panicky young man asked a female neighbour for a plaster, saying the situation was an emergency. The woman accompanied the man to his flat where he applied the plaster to what seemed to be a woman's body, but which was revealed as a blow-up sex doll. The man became embarrassed only when he realised his mobile phone had been left in plain view.
Issue
Viewers complained, variously, that the commercial was unsuitable for younger viewers, that it humiliated women and that it was generally offensive.
Assessment
This commercial had been given a restriction such that it could not appear before 9pm. While regretting the offence felt by the complainants, the ITC considered that the advertisement was not likely to cause widespread concern among post-watershed audiences.
Given the timing restriction, the ITC was also satisfied that younger viewers were sufficiently protected.
Conclusion
Complaints not upheld.
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