The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled in favour of BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) in two adjudications…
— BSkyB vs Virgin Media: The ASA backed the satcaster after it complained about the cable company’s newspaper ads for its high-speed broadband – the key plank of Virgin’s business strategy. The ASA said Virgin’s campaign is untrue when it says “old-fashioned copper phone wires that other broadband companies (like Sky) use are struggling to cope”. It also said Virgin is wrong to claim in ads “Everybody’s talking about fibre optic broadband, there’s only one company actually doing it” – because BT (NYSE: BT) is bringing fibre to neighbourhoods by 2012 and is already planning fibre rollouts in some new-build homes.Ruling here.
— Nokia Comes With Music: The ASA refused to uphold a complaint from three individuals about a TV ad for Nokia UK’s music service that they claimed “negatively portrayed transgender and transsexual communities and trivialised the process they go through to resolve their identity”. The ad made by Wieden & Kennedy promots tracks including “Dude Looks Like A Lady and Go See The Doctor – but the ad agency said it consulted the Beaumont Society transgender support group before airing the ad and the ASA said, whilst the video may be in poor taste, it neither stigmatises transgender people nor portrays them negatively. Ruling here.