Hit the brakes: Watchdog bans adverts by Ford, Nissan and Fiat
Ford, Nissan and Fiat have all had adverts banned today after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the three car manufacturers had run adverts that promoted dangerous driving.
Ford was criticised for a cinema and online advert that featured quotes from a Dylan Thomas poem, saying: “Do not go gentle into that goodnight. Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage. Rage against the dying of the light”, followed by a car driving.
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The ASA received 12 complaints that the ad encouraged unsafe driving because it depicted driving as a way of relieving anger.
Ford defended the ad, saying that the use of the term “rage” in the context of the poem was used to communicate “passion and enthusiasm” rather than anger.
Nissan was pulled up by the watchdog for an ad showing a car driving down a motorway, with one of the passengers veering into the left-hand lane before taking a hard turn into an airport. The car then stops, with the ad highlighting Nissan’s “Intelligent Emergency Braking”.
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The complainant said that the advert exaggerated the benefits of the vehicle’s safety features.
Nissan disputed this, but the ASA ultimately ruled that the advert must not appear again in its current form.
Fiat Chrysler was criticised for portraying its cars racing, though the company defended the ad on the basis that it was a play on the Hot Wheels children’s toy car game.