Watchdog bans Natasha Richardson ski helmet ad The Advertising Standards Authority has taken a dim view of an email announcing the death of actress Natasha Richardson which went on to offer great deals on ski helmets. The offending missive, sent by skiwear4less.com, began: "We regret to inform you that British actress Natasha Richardson has died in hospital this morning, …
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I f**king hate the ASA!! How so few complaints can lead to a ban is completely out of line with how the real world works - just because some daily mail reading granny gets a bit hot under the collar when some man shows too much man does not mean the ad should be banned! There's such a thing as the off switch (or suicide - take your pick moaning wench!)
I find that confused.com advert annoying, is that justification enough to have it taken off the screen - well it is probably, given the way things work.
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Will Chief Constable Brunstrom now be censured as well? This is the man who used pictures of a decapitated motorcyclist (without the permission of the next of kin) in his adverts. No one else has taken him to task over his various antics and gaffs, seems like the only hope of any justice would be the ASA!
"a car driving off the edge of a high building to the tune of "Layla" by Eric Clapton?"
Classic! That'd make me buy one of their shitty cars...
I object to ski helmets anyway. Unless you are racing, doing huge air or very gnarly off-piste, you don't need one. But because more people are getting them, you've got all these semi-oblivious people hurtling about with plastic clubs attached to their heads, forcing others to get helmets to protect themselves. Plus one day we'll get made to have them, in the same way as bike helmets.
Stay classy skiwear4less.com and never let an unfortunate death go by without maxing the profit you can make from it..
Yeah I know, whingers and nancy boys will complain, but there's nothing more classy than making money while simultaneously taking advantage of someone's death and pretending to do so in the name of public service..
Alright seems a little bit insensitive, but makes a valid point in my mind. Pointing out that if you don't want to die like this famous person did, then think about sticking something on your head to make sure the squelchy stuff inside, stays where is should be!
( The number of times I see people cycling or blading without pads and helmets. Yes we look dicks, but I'd rather look like a living dick than a dead, trendy wanker! )
Not in an advertising campaign. One off use in a presentation, according to the Telegraph website if you care to search. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1549846/Decapitated-motorcyclist-used-in-speeding-campaign.html if you want to have a look.
"The presentation included details of a T-shirt worn by the motorcyclist which bore the message: 'P**s off and catch some real criminals.'" That's a nice detail. I must get one for my mate who's learning to ride a bike and foams at the mouth in the pub about speed cameras...
@The Fuzzy Wotnot "The number of times I see people cycling or blading without pads and helmets. Yes we look dicks, but I'd rather look like a living dick than a dead, trendy wanker!"
You might want to check up on the evidence before putting too much faith in your polystyrene hat:
http://cyclehelmets.org
Particularly the easy-to-read article by an expert who is paid to test the things, and knows exactly what protection they are able to provide:
http://cyclehelmets.org/papers/c2023.pdf
You could also read the label inside your polystyrene hat, to see what the manufacturer says themselves...
Does this mean that all those adverts from Nigerians where they mention the death of someone and some free money up for grabs can also be banned from re-use by the ASA?
Mine's the one with the million dollars in the pocket.
Oh, and you've got bug in your comment software, it wouldn't let me use just '419' as a title.
In March 2009 we sent out an email to our customers regarding the death of Natasha Richardson, if this email from skiwear4less.com caused offence we apologise.
Our purpose for sending out the newsletter was to tell people of this tragic accident.
We also wished to encourage people to wear helmets on the slopes, so that such accidents may not happen in the future.
This advert gives a shocking insight into the mind of advertisers. Their thinking must be along the lines of: Someone has died ... ok how can I use that for personal gain ... I know, I can use this death to scare people into buying stuff from me. Talk about lacking empathy. What a totally narcissistic way to behave. Total self interest and utter contempt for others.
As for skiwear4less saying it "was a newsletter and not an ad" is utter BS. Great its PR not marketing, so they think that makes it different?!. They are totally morally corrupt and I hope the company goes out of business.
While I don't like Big Brother control, this isn't one of these kinds of cases. For any society to function fairly then laws are needed to prevent people abusing others, when their own internal empathy and so morality is so lacking. Not all control is wrong, its only wrong when that control is hijacked by the narcissistic's as a tool to use to abuse people even more for their own gain. (e.g. like MPs and Narcissistic companies like Phorm).
In this case, the ASA has done the right thing, but are so weak as near useless in really punishing this company. Still its a very small step in the right direction for a change, especially these days, but still the damage is done.
Society needs ways to really seriously punish all Narcissistic behaviour, to finally stop it happening to provide real protection for everyone, which is exactly what laws are suppose to do. But unfortunately the laws are so often hijacked, watered down and manipulated by the very people laws are suppose to protect society from. (Which is no surprise because narcissistic behaviour provides a competitive advantage in very competitive environments like politics and business. So the most narcissistic tend to fight to the top, to become the ones in power who make the laws and rules. Exactly like the morally corrupt bunch in power in Government now, making their own rules about what expenses they can fraudulently steal from tax payers).
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