ASA Censures Unison For Being “Unfairly Denigratory”

The ASA has upheld complaints against a national press ad for Unison on the grounds that they were “unfairly denigratory”.

The ad featured a photograph of a toilet divided in to two, with one clean-half labelled public toilet, while the other filthy half was labelled private toilet. Underneath the ad was the statement: “Since hospitals cleaning was switched from public service to private contractors, the number of cleaners has been cut by more than 50%. Disgusting, isn’t it?”

The complainants, who believed that the drop in standards was due to a reduction in budgets, objected to the ad on the grounds that it implied that private contractors were at fault.

However, the advertisers argued that the ads were a “fair representation” and pointed out that there has been a 50% cut in the number of NHS cleaning staff.

The ASA acknowledged that some privately cleaned hospitals had underachieved in the 2000-2001 ratings league. However, it also found that no figures were available for the number of hospital cleaners currently employed by private contractors or the NHS.

The Authority concluded that the advertisers had not substantiated the implications of the advert and warned the advertisers not to take a similar approach in the future.

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

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