Not so amazing George Clarke Scottish Power ad banned

Scottish Power has been forced to pull the plug on a TV ad featuring architect and TV presenter George Clarke after misleading viewers into thinking they were watching a TV programme.

The ad, seen on Channel 4 in July, included text stating “George Clarke’s amazing green spaces”, before Clarke himself said: “I’ve seen some amazing spaces all around the UK. From great tree houses, to log cabins, and house boats. Oh, and don’t forget about the hobbit house in Gwent, that was truly amazing.”

As houses of different colours were shown, he continued: “From yellow houses, blue houses, pink houses, and… greener houses, like this one. Of course, it’s not about the colour, it’s all about the green solutions provided by Scottish Power. So why not make your amazing space even more amazing by turning it a little greener?”

The first 12 seconds of the ad contained the text “#ad” in the top right corner.

But not all viewers were amazed, with the Advertising Standards Authority receiving three complaints that the ad was not obviously distinguishable from the George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces programme.

In its defence, Scottish Power said it believed the ad was clearly recognisable as such throughout, insisting that as well as the “#ad” test, it mentioned Scottish Power products, there were verbal references to Scottish Power within Clarke’s dialogue and the Scottish Power logo featured on the back of the jacket of one individual and in the end frame.

However, the ASA was unconvinced. It pointed out that the ad aired during breaks around George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces TV show, used the same font and style of text as the programme, and was also set against a background of greenery in the same way it was presented in Clarke’s show.

The watchdog said the “#ad” text in the top right corner for the first 12 seconds was “insufficient to mitigate the other elements in the ad, which were reminiscent of George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces programme. As such, we considered viewers were likely to believe, at least initially, that they were watching a programme”.

Banning the ad from running again in its current form, the watchdog also warned Scottish Power over future activity.

Even so, a Scottish Power spokeswoman said: “Our advertising partnership with George Clarke and C4’s Amazing Spaces brought together everything we strive to do for customers.”

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