Industry Calls For Guidelines Following Tube Ad Bans

Industry figures were calling for a set of guidelines for poster ads planned for tube stations following a series of campaign bans by London Underground. This week new executions from Heart 106.2, Miss Selfridge and Vintage Publishing were banned by the Underground despite having been passed by the ASA.

Posters for Miss Selfridge were considered not fit for display in underground stations for featuring bikini-clad women in provocative poses and women making V-signs. Adam Goulcher, director of marketing and planning at London Underground, said: “We thought that there was a risk that these adverts would be offensive to a number of our customers because…you have to remember that the London Underground carries people from all sections of the community.”

The execution for Heart 106.2, which shows a couple snogging under the tagline “Another night in?”, was also deemed unacceptable, and yesterday an ad for Martin Amis’s autobiography Experience was pulled for carrying a photo of the author smoking as a child.

The Underground authorities said that it rejected the ads for the book because the photograph may incite children to break the law by smoking underage.

TDI, the outdoor group which owns the contract for the London Underground, is now facing criticism from advertisers for allowing the poster campaigns to get to such a late stage, but it is the Underground itself which appears to be tightening its strictures.

Recently it banned a campaign for Spitfire beer following complaints that it was racist to Germans, despite clearance from the ASA.

ASA: 020 7580 5555 TDI: 020 7482 3000

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