Jamster watershed ruling upheld despite survey

by Sam Matthews, Brand Republic 25-Jan-06, 08:30

LONDON - Jamster, the ringtone company behind the Crazy Frog TV ad, has failed in its attempt to stop its ads being banned from broadcast before the watershed, despite its own survey showing the majority of its customers are adults.

Jamster provided the Advertising Standards Authority with an internal survey based on 2,266 calls to its customer service department over a six-day period, where callers were asked the age of the user.

The results showed that 3.87% were under 16 years old. In total, 244 viewers complained to the ASA that the style of the ads would appeal to children.

The ASA said it appreciated the efforts by Jamster in initiating the survey, but it did not consider the internal survey adequate enough to show the age of Jamster customers, because it was only undertaken over six days from a small number of adults contacting customer services.

The ad watchdog acknowledged that although Jamster's portfolio of the Crazy Frog, Sweetie the Chick and Nessie the Dragon ringtones were not specifically aimed at children, it was likely that the product was of interest to children.

In addition, the ads were shown throughout the day and would appeal to children because it was similar in price to a one-off pocket money purchase rather than the weekly subscription service that Jamster offers.

As such, the ASA upheld its September 2005 adjudication that a timing restriction placing the ads post 9pm should be applied. Of particular concern were complainants reporting that children had run up large phone bills as a result of the ads.

Jamster applied for an injunction to block publication of the original adjudication pending an appeal, but this was thrown out by the judge, Mr Justice Lloyd Jones, in September. He also awarded costs to the ASA.

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