ASA Censures Sexually Gratuitous Vodafone Ads

The ASA has upheld complaints against two national press ads for Vodafone after it was claimed they were sexually gratuitous.

The ads were featured in Time Out, The Guardian‘s Guide supplement and The Times’ Play magazine. One ad depicted a partly clothed couple against a wall and the other showed a couple on the bonnet of a car. Both ads carried the strapline “Get the flirting over with before you get home. Text”

The ASA received 19 complaints from people who felt the ads were unsuitable on the grounds that they could be seen by children. The complainants also felt the ads were likely to cause serious and widespread offence.

Vodafone claimed its research shows that a large number of young people use text messages to enhance their love lives. It also maintained that the ads were placed in magazines read by a young adult market and were not aimed at children. In fact, the company believed the adverts were “relatively tame” for the target audience.

Time Out agreed with Vodafone and said it believed the ads were tongue-in-cheek and unlikely to offend its readers, who were over 18, media savvy and culturally aware. The Times’ Play supplement believed the ads were aimed at twenty-somethings and asserted that they matched its reader profile.

However, the ASA concluded the ads were explicit and gratuitous. It felt they would cause serious or widespread offence and asked the advertisers not to repeat a similar approach in the future.

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