ASA rules against pet medical company TV advert

THE Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that pet medical company Dotsure must immediately withdraw its commercial which implied they would cover a costly operation for your dog.

In the commercial‚ veterinary surgeon Dr Thulani Mthimunye tells a story about a dog that broke its hip after being accidentally run over by its owner as she was driving into their driveway.

“Surgery like that costs a fortune.

“That dog may be here just because it was on Dotsure.

“No matter who you are‚ where you from‚ Dotsure, it’s affordable for your pets. With Dotsure‚ you can name your price‚” he says.

A message on-screen states: “Emergency surgeries can cost as much as R30 000. Cover your pet from just R3 per day.”

Eleanor Richardson argued the commercial implied that Dotsure would pay for surgery up to R30 000.

Richardson said this was a lie and was misleading‚ because Dotsure only covers up to R10 000.

Dotsure said that nowhere in the commercial did they explicitly state that they would cover up to R30 000.

The ASA ruled the commercial was misleading‚ despite making no overt statements.

They said reasonable consumers would think their pet was covered‚ because of the onscreen message which makes reference to the R30 000 amount.

The voice-over also says dogs may be alive only because they were covered by Dotsure.

The ASA ruled: “The reality is that‚ with R10 000 cover‚ they still had to cover the bulk of the R30 000 operation themselves.”

The ASA added that Dotsure selecting R30 000 as an example was misleading and unnecessary.—