ASA hits airwaves with another bad ad

16 March 2006

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is launching its first radio advertising campaign with what might be the worst advertisements ever. Echoing the theme of its recent TV, web banner and press ads which were all deliberately “bad”, the radio ads will reiterate that whilst the ASA might not be able to make good ads, its strength lies in removing ads that are offensive, harmful or misleading.

Three 30 second ads will broadcast on commercial radio stations nationwide for a two week period. Like the TV campaign the radio ads reflect the ASA’s new responsibility for regulating broadcast advertising. The Commercial Radio Companies Association, whose members are running the ads, helped to organise the available airtime.

The actor Michael Fenton Stephens, who has an extensive list of TV and radio credits, provides the voiceover in all three ads. Whilst each one is decidedly and deliberately unprofessional – one is full of mispronunciations, another is poorly edited and the other involves the presenter being distracted by an invitation to play golf with a friend – the overall comic effect is designed to help convey a serious message: that the ASA is here to keep advertising standards high.

The ads were developed by the award winning radio production company Eardrum.

The ASA Annual Report 2005 which is due to be published in April will look back on the ASA’s first full year in charge of upholding standards in TV and Radio advertising. With the number of complaints to the ASA expected to exceed 26,000, communicating the ASA’s role to the public could not be more pertinent. The radio ads serve a dual purpose, to inform the public where to complain and to reassure them that the ASA will listen to their concerns.

Of the new ad campaign on radio, ASA Director General, Christopher Graham says: “Our first foray into radio advertising has, I believe, resulted in three ads which although humorous and light-hearted, manage to effectively communicate the ASA’s role in keeping advertising standards high. We freely admit that whilst the ASA should leave good advertising to the professionals we are committed to protecting consumers and ensuring ads that fall foul of the rules are withdrawn”.

Click here to listen to the radio ads