Partially clad women lands Playboy ad in hot water

by Jennifer Whitehead,, Brand Republic 03-Mar-03, 13:00

LONDON - An advertisement promoting The People newspaper's Playboy Calendar featuring shots of partially clad women has been rapped for being broadcast at a time when children were likely to be watching television.

The ad, created by M&C Saatchi, was shown during the early evening and attracted complaints from 28 people.

The BACC said that it had given provisional approval to the ad, because ads for weekend newspapers were not always completed in time to give formal approval before the weekend of transmission.

However, the advertiser had scheduled a larger number of early Saturday evening slots than had originally been indicated. After the ad had been broadcast, the BACC judged that the ad was only suitable for transmission after 9pm.

The complaint was upheld by the Independent Television Commission.

A second ad created by M&C Saatchi, for Freeserve, was banned by the ITC. The ad originally ran from January to June 2002 proclaiming that Freeserve had doubled its capacity. When the ad ran again in September, complainants said that it gave the impression that Freeserve had doubled its capacity a second time, whereas they believed it had in fact only done so once before.

The ITC agreed, saying that the ad was misleading and said it must be amended for any future broadcasts.

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