Lycos’ Catapulting Squirrels Escape ASA Censure

An advertisement for Lycos UK’s Viral Charts attracted a number of complaints to the ASA from members of the public who thought it could encourage cruelty to animals.

The ad appeared in the Guardian and Metro. It was in the style of a newspaper cutting about a man whose hobby is catapulting squirrels by tempting them onto a spring device set up in a tree using nuts. A box at the bottom of the ad stated “Now showing on the Viral Chart on Lycos.co.uk”

The advertisers said that they had intended to “exploit an entirely make-believe and slightly ridiculous situation to amuse readers and capture their interest”. However, because of the complaint, they had developed new copy and said they would not repeat the ad. The Guardian also said it had not intended to offend, and thought that readers would find the ad amusing. However, they had also recieved four complaints and said they would not accept similar copy in future.

The ASA noted that the ad was not to be used again. It considered that the ad clearly described a fictional situation and decided that the ad was not irresponsible, unlikely to cause serious offence to the readers of the papers involved was unlikely to encourage cruelty to animals.

ASA: 020 7580 5555 www.asa.org.uk

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