ITC Upholds Complaints Against H Bauer’s Take A Break

The ITC has upheld 318 complaints against a controversial national television ad campaign for Take A Break magazine.

The ad depicted a driver of a meals-on-wheels van reading the magazine while parked outside a block of flats. A voice-over said “whatever you’re doing it can wait – while you Take a Break“. As the driver continued to read, an elderly lady was shown sitting at her kitchen table waiting for her meal to be delivered.

The ad triggered 280 complaints to the ITC in just over a week, prompting the magazine’s publisher, H Bauer, to withdraw it (see Take A Break TV Ad Sparks Raft Of Complaints).

Complainants, including a number of care workers and three charities concerned with the welfare of the elderly, objected to the ad on the grounds that it degraded the elderly. Many also felt that the ad could cause anxiety among the elderly about the reliability of the social services they receive. They also believed that it denigrated meals-on-wheels and similar welfare services.

More generally, many considered the idea of making fun of the vulnerable to sell a magazine, to be profoundly offensive.

The ITC concluded that the ad had made light of the fear and loneliness of some of society’s most vulnerable members and that it had shown one elderly lady in a degrading light. It upheld complaints against the advertisers on the grounds of taste and decency.

According to the recent ABC results for the July to December 2002 period Take A Break has seen its circulation increase 4.9% year on year to 1,204,577, up from 1,148,634 in the same period in 2001.

ITC: 0207 306 7743 www.itc.org.uk

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