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ASA throws Jaguar Land Rover off a cliff in ad ban

A Jaguar Land Rover ad has been banned by the ASA for misrepresenting what a parking sensor can do. Warning: it won’t stop you backing off a cliff, which is exactly what happens in Spark44’s ad.

Jaguar Land Rover’s defence was that there was a boulder near the car that would have been picked up by the sensor, but the ASA ruled that the rocks were only incidental to the scene.

There’s some great scenery in the ad, and a dramatic final sequence where three cars stop just short of going off the edge, but JLR and Spark44 really should have known better.

It’s surprising that only two people complained – either JLR’s media strategy is perfectly tuned to the target audience, or barely anyone got to see the ad.

4 Comments

  1. I give up.

    It is a tremendous ad !!

    Creativity, innovation, Entertainment – Death by a thousand cuts !!!!

  2. I’d not seen this until ASA rules to ban it. It’s a lovely ad.

    If they took the reversing sound pips off the parking scene, then the reversing camera becomes the tool the driver uses to stop short of the cliff, which I imagine is something it could do.

  3. Totally agree with the ban. When I saw the ad, I thought it was bonkers and extremely dangerous, much like the Samsung ad showing a lone woman running at 2am. It’s not only about creativity, there’s a corporate responsibility not to endanger lives.

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