The TV ad, created by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, is part of the series of ads featuring single mother Jane, her son and daughter, and her partner Adam. It begins with the daughter slamming her bedroom door on her mother Jane saying "You don't understand".
It then cuts to Adam, played by Kris Marshall, who is thinking: "Kids today, they think they know it all, they think they're so mature, but they're exactly the same as we were."
The next shot shows Jane entering the kitchen and putting a laptop down on the worktop.
She tells Adam that she is worried about her daughter spending so much time in her room on the computer. When he asks what she's worried about Jane replies: "I am worried that she might...be a geek".
A voiceover then states: "Unlike some broadband providers BT Total Broadband comes with parental controls as standard for as long as you want them, so you know your kids are protected."
The Advertising Standards Authority received 21 complaints, with 20 of the complainants challenging whether the ad encouraged or condoned parents letting their children use the internet unsupervised, which might result in them coming to harm.
Nine of the complainants challenged whether the ad was misleading because it implied the parental software offered by BT would protect children from all online threats.
BT said that it was not its intention to encourage children to use the internet unsupervised but to highlight the need for parents to use parental controls to keep their children safe.
It said that it did not believe the ad encouraged or condoned parents letting their children use the internet unsupervised because the mother had confiscated the laptop from the child and placed it in a communal area of the house.
The ASA did not uphold the complaints because the ad showed the parents supervising their child's internet use and the voice-over made it clear that the parents were concerned about their child's welfare.
It acknowledged that no software programme could protect children from all online threats but said that the overall impression created by the ad was not that it offered total protection for children online but that parental controls came as standard with BT Total Broadband and went some way to protecting children online.
The advertising watchdog concluded that the ad was not misleading.
BT also escaped a ban this week for a TV ad for its Business division featuring the Gremlins and 'Dragons' Den' presenter Peter Jones, despite 11 complaints that young children had suffered nightmares after watching it.