COULTHARD TELLY STUNTS HAVE AD IT
ASA ban F1 ace’s ‘reckless’ antics in safety promo
A TV advert for an online fashion retailer has been banned for featuring a model “who appeared to be under 16 in a manner that was sexually suggestive”.
The Advertising Standards Authority said one of two models in the Pretty Little Thing ad had a “very youthful appearance”. They said the models’ poses, expressions and outfits meant the ad was sexually suggestive.
21 Three Clothing, trading as Pretty Little Thing, said the models were aged 23 and 24. They denied they were childlike or indecent. A ROAD safety advert starring former Formula 1 ace David Coulthard has been banned for encouraging dangerous driving. In the TV ad, the Scot plays a rogue taxi driver who takes passengers on a high-speed white-knuckle ride featuring a variety of stunts.
Fifty-eight people contacted watchdogs about the commercial, which plugs insurance firm Aviva’s safer driving app.
The Advertising Standrads Authority (ASA) ruled that the manner in which the car was driven was “extremely reckless”.
Aviva said that the full version of the ad was no longer being broadcast, but an edited version would be shown until next month.
The firm said the stunts performed by Coulthard were “not intended to encourage or condone” dangerous driving, but to denounce and discourage it.
But an ASA spokesman said: “The ad featured reckless driving behaviour on public roads and we concluded it encouraged dangerous and irresponsible driving.”