SMS Advert Draws Complaints

The UK advertising governing body, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against an SMS advert that was deigned to encourage people to upgrade their cell phones.

Phonetastic UK sent an SMS message with the text "You are a dick and I am going to kick your head in ya big useless donkey. UPGRADE UR MOB 0800 0859362" which resulted, not surprisingly we think, in complaints to the ASA about the language used.

The advertisers did not respond in writing to the ASA when asked to and the the Authority says that it was concerned by the advertisers' lack of response, which it considered a breach of the Codes. The Authority was also concerned that the advertisers had not shown how the text message was targeted and concluded that it was likely to cause serious or widespread offence to recipients. It told the advertisers not to repeat the text message and asked the Committee of Advertising Practice to inform its members of the problem with the advertisers.

The ruling is not technically binding on Phonetastic as the ASA doesn't have any legal powers, but as almost every reputable ad agency in the UK follows the ASA's adjudications, it would be very difficult for Phonetastic to ignore the instructions.'"

Posted to the site on 10th October 2002