UK Regulator Bans LG Phones Television Advert

An advert of an LG mobile phone, shown on UK television has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after it decided that the advert condoned driving a motor car while using a mobile phone. While LG argued that the woman was never seen driving while using a mobile phone, a sequence of shots was deemed by the ASA to imply the same.

A total of 33 people complained to the ASA about the television advert.

LG Electronics UK explained that the shot of the mobile phone was not intended to look like it was being used by the woman in the car, rather the woman was imagining that the phone could trigger the changing scenarios in her day and therefore her mood. LG said the phone was shown in a neutral location. They also argued that there was no evidence that the ad encouraged people to use their mobile phone while driving.

The ASA noted LG's argument that the mobile phone was shown in a neutral location in the ad, and they acknowledged that the ad distinguished between the scene featuring the woman in the traffic jam and the scene showing the phone being used. They also acknowledged that the woman's hands were on the steering wheel of the car when the ad cut back to her.

They considered, however, that the sequence of images of the woman in her car, before and after the image of the mobile phone, implied that she had been using her mobile phone whilst at the wheel of her car, and decided that the ad could condone viewers' use of their mobile phones while driving, and therefore that the ad was in breach of their regulations.

The ASA ruled that the ad must not be shown again in its current form.

Posted to the site on 4th June 2008