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The advertising watchdog is considering whether to investigate a Simplyhealth ad that representatives of the deaf community say gives a misleading impression of the impact of a cochlear implant on a person’s hearing.

The spot, “All together healthier”, was created by McCann Bristol and depicts people in a neighbourhood taking part in various fundraising activities under the banner “Fund 4 Ferris”. At the end of the ad a young deaf boy, Ferris, has a hearing aid switched on, and is able to hear his mother’s voice for the first time, prompting an emotional reaction from her.

The Advertising Standards Authority has received 35 complaints, 33 of which suggested the ad was misleading because it failed to depict the lengthy process involved in first receiving a cochlear implant, and then growing accustomed to using it to hear – as well as the varied results of cochlear implants, which do not always result in the restoration of full hearing.

Twenty of the complaints also said it was irresponsible because it could create a false sense of hope for parents of deaf children.

The ad has also provoked an angry response on social media, with critics additionally calling out the depiction of deafness as a “health problem” and something to be “fixed”, and the casting of a hearing child to play a deaf character.

No no no ! This is a very unrealistic representation of cochlear implants!

They are not a ‘quick fix’. There is a long process to go through.

The media also constantly portray deafness, as something that needs to be fixed.

Their poor views need to be fixed!

— Louise Deaf Awareness ?? (@LouiseDeafAware)

In fact, i’ll challenge ANYONE to tell me if they know ANYONE that had a similar experience to that child actor. It's so misleading on so many levels. are preying on naive hearing parents of Deaf children thinking the CI will cure their Deafness. IT WONT.

— Daniel Hogan (@Cheekidaniel)

The new advert is so gross.

Stop it with the crip porn and erasing the Deaf community.

Deaf people are not left out because they can not hear. Deaf people are left out because no one can be bothered to learn their language and culture.

I saw the advert and it is vile and false. It is offensive on every level. Everyone involved: adult actors, director, writer (using term loosely) lighting, costume, runners, camera operators, the parents/guardians of child actor should all be utterly ashamed of themselves

— Sue Maclaine (@suemaclaine)

I'm also a paying customer too, seriously considering boycotting . I'm also disappointed with the fact they used a hearing child over a deaf child grrr!

— Deepa Shastri (@Deepgiggles)

In a response to ��������pk10, Simplyhealth pointed to a statement it had issued at the start of the campaign providing context on the story of the ad, in which it said it took “great care to ensure that the story represented an authentic experience”.

On the casting of Ferris, Simplyhealth said it “worked hard to meet deaf and hard-of-hearing actors and ran auditions”, but “our final decision was based on our duty-of-care for the wellbeing of the children, including the complexities of Covid-19 restrictions”. The brand argued it had been open about the casting decision on both its website and on social media.

Simplyhealth added that it had “continued to seek and act on the advice of several charities who support people with more serious auditory conditions”.

However, one of the two charities listed on Simplyhealth’s website as an auditory charity partner, National Deaf Children’s Society, said that while it was consulted on the production of the ad, its recommendations were not taken on board.

, NDCS said that Simplyhealth had made a donation to it and asked it to review the ad during production.

“One of our experts did so, and raised a number of concerns about how it portrayed childhood deafness and the unrealistic portrayal of cochlear implants,” NDCS wrote. “We made a number of recommendations about how to change the advert, and are disappointed that these changes were not made.”

NDCS told ��������pk10 it had not had any further discussions with Simplyhealth about the ad.

When asked to respond to the comments from NDCS, Simplyhealth added: "We worked with a number of experts and specialist charities on a goodwill basis, for which we are incredibly grateful, and we also drew on a range of case studies.

"This gave us a broad base of opinion and feedback from which we sought to find an aligned and common approach and, using this input, we made informed and significant adaptations to our advertisement."

Simplyhealth said the ad had finished running over the weekend (10-11 October) and it would now “continue to listen, learn and respond” to feedback.