ASA clears British Heart Foundation campaign despite 75 complaints

LONDON - The Advertising Standards Authority has decided against launching an investigation into a British Heart Foundation poster campaign despite 75 complaints from members of the public.

The poster campaign, created by Farm, encourages the over-50s to take up gentle activity. The campaign includes three posters but only two have attracted complaints.

One poster, which features a naked old age pensioner embracing his wife with the words "sex" and "swimming" in bold, attracted 66 complaints. Complainants described the ad as gratuitous and offensive.

A second ad, showing a man using a small dog to wash his car, was brandished offensive and cruel by nine members of the public.

The ads were created to promote the BHF's 'grey campaign', based on the idea that simple everyday activity counts as exercise.

A spokesman for the ASA said the organisation's council considered the complaints, but judged there were no grounds for an investigation in either case. The case against the campaign has now officially been closed.

This is not the first BHF ad campaign to receive complaints, although none had received this many. A Food4Thought campaign in September last year showed a young girl drinking cooking oil in a bid to highlight how much fat there is in a packet of crisps.

The ASA received two complaints from concerned members of the public, one of which stated that the girl looked like she was enjoying the cooking oil which may encourage others to copy the act.