Under floor insulation ad takes heat

An under-floor insulation television advertisement deemed to have degraded competing products breached advertising standards, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) says.

The Expol ad featured a priest in a wedding ceremony where he asked "Do you, Expol, promise to perform for your whole life without sagging or drooping, like soft insulation?". A chorus of voice-overs replied "You bet ya!", followed by a male voice-over saying during a title screen: "Expol Solid insulation, definitely not a soft option".

A complainant said the ad clearly compared Expol - a rigid insulation building product -- to soft insulation, and to say that soft options sagged over time was misleading and unfairly attacked other products.

Most of the Complaints Board felt the ad denigrated identifiable competing products, and breached guidelines for comparative advertising.

Overall most of the board took the view that the ad - while denigrating - did not cross the threshold into misleading consumers, though a minority disagreed.

- NZPA