Ad description
A tweet from the account of RM Sotheby's, a classic car auction company, promoting an upcoming auction, seen on 27 October 2022. Text stated “The 'Out Run' icon is on the loose! Relive your '80s arcade dreams with the incredible Testarossa Spider offered at RM Sotheby's London on November 5”. The post included a video which depicted a woman in a bar who drifted off into a daydream, in which she was the passenger in a red, convertible Ferrari Testarossa, being driven by a man. As the video progressed, 1980s style synth music started playing and on-screen text stated “RM SOTHEBY’S PRESENTS Outrun”.
The driver was then depicted driving at speed, weaving in and out of traffic, including oncoming vehicles. The soundtrack of the video included the revving of the car’s engine, arcade-style beeping noises, quotes from the video game Outrun, and police sirens in the background. Occasionally, the video cut to close-ups of a person playing the Outrun arcade game, clips of the game itself, and the real-life driver of the Ferrari changing gears. As the driver continued to weave around other vehicles, the camera swooped around the Ferrari, and cut to close ups of the woman from the bar, smiling and laughing in the passenger seat. As the Ferrari overtook another car at speed, the camera blurred, and the woman stood up and held onto the top of the windscreen, with her head and upper body above the windscreen, laughing as the wind blew her hair back behind her. The video ended by cutting back to the bar, as the woman’s daydream ended, and she resumed a conversation with a friend. In the background, two men were seen playing the original 1980s arcade driving video game Outrun.
Issue
The complainant, who believed the ad condoned and encouraged driving behaviour that was dangerous, challenged whether it was irresponsible.
Response
RM Auctions Ltd t/a RM Sotheby's said they had not intended for the ad to condone or encourage dangerous driving behaviour. The ad was intended to resemble the well-known video arcade game Outrun, and the female character’s experiences in the car were meant to be part of a daydream. They said that the ad had been produced to replicate the style of the game as closely as possible, though it had not included scenes of a road traffic accident. They also believed the video did not depict the car driving against oncoming vehicles.
RM Sotheby's said that all filming was done at low speeds, with the images being sped up in the final edit to create the illusion of speed, and took place on private land, not on a public highway, so no road traffic laws had been contravened. They likened the situation to the filming and broadcasting of motorsports activities.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must not condone or encourage unsafe or irresponsible driving. The Code specified that, if it could be emulated, marketing communications must not depict a driving practice that was likely to condone or encourage a breach of those rules of the Highway Code that were legal requirements, if that driving practice seemed to take place on a public road or in a public space.
The ad opened with a woman in a bar, who drifted off into a daydream in which she was being driven at apparent high speeds in a bright red Ferrari Testarossa Spider sports car, as it weaved in and out of traffic on a busy road. The ASA understood that this was meant to evoke and replicate the imagery and iconography of the classic 1980s video arcade game Outrun, which featured a female passenger being driven at high speeds in a red Ferrari Testarossa Spider.
We acknowledged that the ad was intended to represent a daydream of the character, as she imagined being “inside” the video game, and that the actual filming had taken place on private land, and at lower speeds than the ad appeared to show.
We considered, however, that while the intention of the ad was to evoke the Outrun game, the driving scenes took place on what appeared to be a regular road, with other, ordinary vehicles - including articulated lorries - which would be recognisable to viewers as a real-life setting. The overtaking manoeuvres carried out by the Ferrari’s driver were shot and edited to impart a sense of great speed, which was reinforced by the soundtrack, which included police sirens, indicating the Ferrari was being pursued by police.
We considered the driving manoeuvres featured would be dangerous and irresponsible if emulated in real life on a public highway. We also considered that the numerous shots of the woman laughing and smiling, and the scene in which she stood up, held onto the top of the windscreen, with her head and upper body above the windscreen, and laughing, condoned the dangerous style of driving depicted.
We noted that midway through the video, the driver of the Ferrari was seeing shifting gears and accelerating, as they overtook another vehicle. The video’s point of view then cut to a camera mounted on the front of the vehicle, giving the viewer the impression that they were watching the actions of the overtaking manoeuvre from the Ferrari’s point of view. That view briefly showed that the vehicle, positioned in the middle of the road, was accelerating into oncoming traffic, with other, oncoming vehicles in both lanes. We therefore considered that the ad did depict the Ferrari driving against oncoming vehicles, which would also be dangerous and irresponsible if emulated in real life on a public highway.
Because we considered the driving depicted in the ads condoned unsafe and irresponsible driving, and depicted driving practices that were likely to condone or encourage a breach of the rules of the Highway Code, we concluded that the ad was irresponsible.
The ad breached CAP Code (edition 12) rules
1.3
1.3
Marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society.
(Social responsibility), and
19.2
19.2
Marketing communications must not condone or encourage unsafe or irresponsible driving. If it could be emulated, marketing communications must not depict a driving practice that is likely to condone or encourage a breach of those rules of the Highway Code that are legal requirements if that driving practice seems to take place on a public road or in a public space. Vehicles' capabilities may be demonstrated on a track or circuit if it is obviously not in use as a public highway.
and
19.3
19.3
Marketing communications must not depict speed in a way that might encourage motorists to drive irresponsibly or to break the law.
To avoid the implication of irresponsible driving through excessive speed, care must be taken in the style of presentation of marketing communications. Particular care must be taken in, for example, cinema commercials and in marketing communications that appear in electronic media to avoid moving images that imply excessive speed. If they are shown in normal driving circumstances on public roads, vehicles must be seen not to exceed UK speed limits.
(Motoring).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told RM Auctions Ltd t/a RM Sotheby's to ensure that their future marketing communications did not depict, encourage, or condone dangerous and irresponsible driving. We also told them to ensure that future marketing communications did not depict driving practices that were likely to condone or encourage a breach of the rules of the Highway Code.
