The mailing showed a thatched cottage, half of which had been equipped with a satellite dish. The side with the dish on the front wall was set in a litter strewn and unkempt garden while the pretty cottage next door had a garden in full bloom and no satellite dish.
The mailing gave a clear message to image-conscious householders playing on their fears of ruining their house with an ugly satellite dish.
Rival broadcaster BSkyB and Astra Marketing, which operates the Astra satellite network, complained that the satellite dishes depicted in the campaign did not show dishes that would be installed in a residential property and that the mailing denigrated satellite dish providers.
The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the satellite dish in the picture was not representative of residential satellite dishes. It also found that the picture implied that houses with satellite dishes were unsightly.
The watchdog advised ITV Digital not to use that approach in future campaigns and to represent the size of digital satellite dishes in the future.
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