A complaint about a Fiat advert centred on whether or not the 500 was built in Italy has been rejected by the Advertising Standards Authority.
A TV ad, for the Fiat 500, showed the cars driving down a beach in Italy and into the sea, followed by a scene in which the cars emerged from the River Thames next to Tower Bridge. A voice-over stated, "Just arrived from Italy. The Fiat 500 spring/summer collection."
It attracted four complaints from viewers who argued the car is not built in Italy so the advert was misleading.
The ASA considered in the overall context of the ad, viewers would understand the claim "Just arrived from Italy" to relate to the design and style of the cars, made by an Italian brand, rather than being a claim about where the cars were manufactured and the claim was not, therefore, misleading.
"Notwithstanding that, we considered that even if the claim was interpreted to mean that the cars were manufactured in Italy, that interpretation would have been unlikely to have influenced consumer's decisions in relation to the product. We concluded the ad was not misleading."
As editor, Tim is responsible for the media content, planning and production of AM's multiple channels (AM print and digital magazines, website, social media and contributing to our events planning). He interviews and writes about as many franchised dealer groups and UK divisions of motor manufacturers as possible, to explore the issues facing UK motor retail and understand what solutions dealers and suppliers are using to overcome these.
John Montgomery - 06/06/2013 03:20
I wonder what would happen if 4 Wal-Mart shoppers complained about the fact that 80% of the merchandise in the store was made by Chinese manufacturers?