ASA's 2015 Most Complained Campaigns #10

At number 10 on the Advertising Standards Authority's list of Top 10 most complained about advertising campaigns of 2015 is Omega Pharma Ltd. With the advertising campaign bringing in 136 complaints it resulted with being Upheld and remove it.

The advertising campaign using TV, YouTube and VOD for the medical device, XLS Medical, featured two female friends exchanging text messages about losing weight in time for the summer holidays. One of the women says she has lost weight thanks to XLS Medical, which she says could help users lose up to three times more weight than dieting alone. The second actress then looks in the mirror frowning and says "Urgh. I'll never fit into my holiday wardrobe". At the end of the advert, both women are shown on holiday posing together for a photo. The company said the final image of the women showed they had reached their “healthy target weight”, with both having a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 19 kg/m².

The main complaints that came in was that the advert was addressed or likely to appeal to those under 18 years of age because it had used actresses whom they believed were under the age of 18. Also complaints that the video advert was irresponsible because it promoted an unhealthy body image, particularly amongst young girls.

Due to this, the ASA told the company its adverts must not appear again in their current form. The Advertising Standards Authority said in a ruling “We told Omega Pharma Ltd to take care to ensure their products were advertised in a socially responsible way,”. In a statement, the company said it had never meant to “cause offence, simply to highlight the variety of healthy weight-loss and weight-maintenance goals and motivations XLS-Medical can support with”. "Across all of our communications we ensure that we represent a range of body shapes, ages and sizes, to acknowledge where our consumers might be on their own weight loss journey. As part of ad development we work with an independent weight management consultant to ensure we deliver positive and appropriate messages,” it said.

The company claimed the exchange of text messages portrayed normal preparations for a holiday, which a change in diet may be part of. Yet ASA said the worry of the actress that she may not fit into her holiday wardrobe was likely to be interpreted by viewers as meaning she needed to lose weight, despite her already slim and healthy appearance.

The complainants, which included representative body for naturists in the UK British Naturism, also said the actresses used appeared to be under 18, increasing the likelihood of appeal to this age group.
Yet defending itself, Omega Pharma said the actresses featured were aged 24 and 29.
The company said they were representative users of the medical device, seeking an effective “helping hand” for weight management ahead of their holiday.

Leave a comment below if you agree with the complaints that were made against this advert. Do you agree that it should have been removed? Do you believe that it creates an unhealthy body image, especially with young girls?

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Omega Pharma criticised for pushing poor body image in slimming ads

By Annie-Rose Harrison-Dunn+ Annie Harrison-Dunn, 05-Feb-2016

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) says adverts for Omega Pharma’s weight management aid presents an “irresponsible approach to body image and confidence”.

http://www.nutraingredients.com/Regulation-Policy/Omega-Pharma-criticised-for-pushing-poor-body-image-in-slimming-ads

      

ASA's 2015 Most Complained Campaigns #8

At number 8 on the Advertising Standards Authorities list of top 10 most complained about campaigns of 2015 is the advertising campaign for the Department of health. the advert received around 200 complaints which the advertising campaign ran. The advert was shown on television and on the Video on demand service and was a part of an anti smoking campaign from Public health England. The advert showed a man rolling a cigarette, however it was not a normal cigarette, the insides of the cigarette was filled with blood and flesh which many viewers found too graphic for television viewing. The Department of health's advertising campaign also including a poster advert which also showed a cigarette which contained flesh.

The Advertising Standards Authority received complaints that the adverts were graphic and gruesome and were therefore offensive and irresponsible. Although the ASA acknowledged that some people might find the advertisements unsettling but noted that they also contained an important health message. therefore it was concluded that the advertising campaign was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.

WARNING graphic content.

What do you think about the Department of Health advertising campaign using the image shown below. Do you feel that these images are too graphic and gruesome to be shown or do you feel that that is how it should be in order to get the message across of just how harmful smoking is?

please leave your comments below sharing your views and opinions