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DFS adverts banned

Wed Dec 03 11:56AM

Three DFS television adverts have been banned - not because they are annoying but because the sofas featured in the adverts were made to look bigger than they actually are.

The ads, which featured people miming to the Nickelback song ‘Rockstar', were declared misleading by the Advertising Standards Authority because the footage of actors singing was superimposed onto shots of sofas, making the furniture seem bigger than it was.

The watchdog, which received 21 complaints, said: "We considered that the production technique used in the ad meant that some of the sofas did appear large in relation to the actors. Because DFS had not been able to demonstrate that the sofas featured in the ad were accurate reflections of the actual sofas, we concluded that the ad was misleading."

DFS argued that customers visited their stores to examine items such as sofas before they bought them, and that any exaggeration in size would have caused widespread disappointment and large numbers of complaints to Trading Standards, which had not been the case.

The three advertising codes breached by the DFS campaign were that adverts must not mislead the public, that they must not imply qualities beyond those normally provided, and that they must not use visual techniques or special effects to mislead.

Comments41 - 50 of 529

I can't believe they banned this advert....I complained about the DFS advert earlier in the year which showed a man with a sumurai sword trying to slash into a sofa, I wrote to the Advertising Standards Authority about my concern with showing it before the watershed, what with all the knife crime in the country, the advert appeared to be condoning the use of knives/swords. They wrote back and said that although they had received similar complaints they were not going to ban it. BUT THIS THEY BAN!!! No wonder this country is going to the dogs!!!!

From dyson_banks on Wed Dec 03 12:36PM
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i would have thought that the actors acting like idiots would be enough to put anyone off being associated with DFS anyway!!???

From bigcraig2000 on Wed Dec 03 12:37PM
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its about time dfs got sorted rather than us getting done by them.

From davidnjayne on Wed Dec 03 12:37PM
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The sofa looks normal sized to me. Maybe she's just a very small woman!

From nicolaspeirs on Wed Dec 03 12:38PM
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mkierznowski From mkierznowsk
Banned...? Why are the directors of DFS not facing criminal charges for fraudulent misrepresentation? This was a deliberate, premeditated act designed to obtain money by deception. Or is this another instance of one law for them and another for the rest of us?
I doubt the directors of DFS had anything to do with this video or its manipulation unless you know different .I would add that your comments would appear to be deframatory and i have passed them onto DFS to see what they have to say about it.

From gmkomd on Wed Dec 03 12:38PM
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Nickleback actually commented on the adverts themselves, when I saw them at Wembley. They said 'You know you've made it when your song is in a Sofa advert!'

From clare_blackledge on Wed Dec 03 12:38PM
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People will be complaining the sofas are too small next cos they are only the size of their tv screen...

From dantooine79 on Wed Dec 03 12:38PM
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great news i'm sick of seein those ads...but couldnt the same be said for most of the ads on tv? i think so...

From ks_hot2003 on Wed Dec 03 12:38PM
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To think that the Board of Directors, Marketing and Strategy teams at DFS actually let this rubbish out onto TV in the first place is unbelievable...its an advert that looks cheesier than a wedge of Limburger Belgium cheese...I actually find it embarassing for the company, British broadcasting and the extras in the advert and turn this kind of rubbish off when I see it. Halifax, DFS you all stink..stop subjecting us to your mindless drivvle

From danielbaggs on Wed Dec 03 12:39PM
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the sofas are not the wrong size as they are in proportion with the rest of the room items, its the stupid people who were put in the advert the wrong size

From jonbonjovi19812003 on Wed Dec 03 12:39PM
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