Optical health company Specsavers received a complaint that its tv ad discriminated against and vilifies people with a visual disability.
The television advertisement features a man waving and calling out to a cactus he has mistaken for a neighbour, and is part of Specsavers long running series Should’ve Gone To Specsavers.
The complaint: “Specsavers continue to parody the visually impaired. They have done so for many years and I take this opportunity to recommend they cease this practice.
“Visual impairment is a disability (if varying degrees) and making fun of visual errors is very disappointing. It’s a form of bullying.
“This would not be tolerated if other forms of disability were parodied.”
In rebuttal the company said: “The campaign encourages people to shop at Specsavers in a light-hearted way and uses humour to point out the things that people may do when they can’t see clearly and aren’t wearing their glasses.
“In this particular advertisement, our intention is to draw attention to the poor eyesight of the man in a playful way. It is definitely not our intention to ridicule ‘disabled’ people.
“The Specsavers in-house legal team was involved and consulted with in the creation of this advertisement.”
The Ad Standards Community Panel considered whether this advertisement breaches Section 2 of the AANA Code of Ethics. The Panel noted the complainant’s concern that the advertisement parodies the visually impaired and is bullying.
However, The Panel considered that the man is not shown to be demeaned or mocked, nor is he shown to be embarrassed or offended. Rather, as the sole person in the ad, he is simply a little confused..
As a result, the advertisement did not breach any section of the Code and the Panel dismissed the complaint.
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