NMA Campaign Falls Foul Of Advertising Watchdog
The Newspaper Marketing Agency has fallen foul of advertising watchdogs over a series of press ads intended to drive readers to its website.
The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld complaints against three executions, all designed by TBWA/London, which use spoof products to catch readers attention and encourage them to visit the newspaper marketing organisation’s website.
One of the ads shows the back of a naked women covered in tattoos and a box of medicine called NMA Fematol. The text reads: “Headaches, migraines, acute pains. Targeted pain relief for women. The first pain reliever especially formulate for women, find out more at nmauk.co.uk/painreliver.
Another claims that spread containing oil from the Aragan tree can help relieve low blood pressure, while the third promotes NMA supergrain muesli that keeps consumers healthy. Readers complained that the ads are misleading and irresponsible.
The Newspaper Marketing Agency pointed out that it had received expert advice before launching the campaign. It also argued that its website www.nmauk.co.uk made it clear that the advertised products were fictional and intended only to demonstrate the power of newspaper marketing.
However, the Advertising Standards Authority concluded that the ads were irresponsible as they were not clearly presented a spoofs and could mislead consumers into believing that the featured products could relieve pain or benefit healthy. The authority ordered the NMA to use a different approach in future.
This is not the first time that the NMA has come a cropper over its controversial marketing strategy. Back in September the ASA upheld complaints about another execution which featured a stiletto heel spiking a business man’s body.
Earlier this month the ASA took over responsibility for handling complaints about television and radio commercials in one of the biggest shake-ups of advertising regulation in recent years. The watchdog bracing itself for a dramatic increase in the amount of complaints relating the advertisements thought to be misleading or offensive because the new system makes it much easier for consumers to submit such objections (see ASA Extends Powers Under New Regulatory Regime).
ASA: 020 7580 5555 www.asa.org.uk
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