back to article Ads body cuts off Skype ad after pic quality complaints

Skype has been slapped down by the UK's ad regulator for running a TV ad which showed video and sound quality in excess of what viewers believed the VoiP service could manage in the real world. The heartwarming ad showed a new father talking to his parents, and at one point in the narrative, moving his laptop so the folks …

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  1. This post has been deleted by its author

  2. Simon Buttress

    "For technical reasons"

    "For "technical reasons they were unable to shoot the ad with a webcam and what was shown in the ad was not a real time Skype video call""

    Because it would be shit?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Good

    Great. It was quite an annoying advert.

    Now we've just got to get rid of Go Compare and their patronising rubbish which is shown in every sodding ad break on every sodding channel every sodding day.

  4. SmallYellowFuzzyDuck, how pweety!
    Megaphone

    Oh the lies ads tell.

    Well don't they do this on all adverts such as TVs and laptops where they superimpose a better image over the screen.

    Of course they have to do it as it's probably difficult to film a screen and get a good image, but it means they are bending the rules with regard to honesty

    I also noticed that ads for HDTV subscription services, HD is apparently filmed in slow motion so you can see each individual droplet of water falling off the rugby player.

    And don't even get me started on those beauty ads that are "Enhanced in post production"

    Yeah we are all getting fed modified computer generated enhanced images of products that don't look as good in real life.

    The Skype ad is just one more in a long, long line,

  5. davefb

    dual standards?

    Always amuses me that the adverts for eyelash enhancing make up says , in white text on a pretty white backdrop 'enhanced in post production and also using eyelash extensions'.

    so thats okay, but skypes faking isnt?

    Maybe all they needed was the usual 'totally faked to represent what we think it'll be' or apples 'faked to be less steps than you'd really need'.

    Are they going to use Norman Collier for the next phone ad?

  6. Test Man
    FAIL

    Re: ASA weasels

    Why, has it been proven that you can't sing and chew at the same time?

  7. Cameron Colley

    RE: ASA weasels

    KFC ran an add suggesting that people eating their food would be able to sing normally? They made some point that it was an added benefit of their product?

    Very strange. I would expect them just to have an advert with people singing in their restaurant while eating and suggest that their food tasted nice or something.

  8. Gordon Ross Silver badge
    FAIL

    Double Standards

    So, they ban the Skype advert for a giving misleading impression about the potential quality of the service, yet they still allow all these broadband adverts ?

  9. Tom Chiverton 1
    FAIL

    @davefb

    The eyelash thing is annoying, but at least there is text there so you know it's done, that's what Skype failed to do.

  10. Harry
    Go

    Now, will ASA please buy a dictionary ...

    and make the elementary common sense ruling that companies that advertise a service that is not unlimited are prohibited from using the word unlimited from any part of the advertisement.

    Will they also please make the common sense ruling that adverts should not feature meaningless "up to xxxx" claims, but must instead replace them with the corresponding, correct "guaranteed at least yyyy" claim, without implication that buyers "may" get more than the guaranteed amount.

    Common sense ... isn't it what the ASA *should* be for? So why doesn't it have any?

  11. Martin 6 Silver badge
    IT Angle

    Car ads

    So instead of zooming along an empty winding highland road are car ads going to have to picture the car stuck in traffic for 25% of the time - to show typical driving conditions.

  12. Paul E

    All ad's show things in best light, ISP no different.

    No point in complaining about the speed in ISP adds as then you could start saying things like...

    "Why is it always sunny in holiday ad's when we know if often rains?"

    or

    "Why are there never any long queues in supermarket ad's?"

    etc, etc...

    Every advert shows the product being advertised in its best possible light. People appear to accept this for just about everything else so I don't see why ISP ad's should be any different.

  13. Matt 21

    @Tom

    I see your point but what's the point in them showing a model with post production enhancement and lash extensions as it clearly doesn't show anything about the product at all.

    Personally I think they should take a step back and think more about the impression given rather than relying on disclaimers most people don't read.

  14. Mike Brown

    eyelashes!!

    i hate those beauty adverts too. Whats the point of showing results that have no realtion to what the product actually does?

    "tag line: buy some red paint. small print:'red paint is actually green"

    gah?

  15. Dale Richards
    Stop

    Dell

    Don't forget the Dell adverts that suggest you buy a blue laptop to match your blue sweater (with blue laptop pictured), accompanied by small print that reads, "Available in black, red and pink".

  16. Andy ORourke
    Happy

    Can't remember the last time I watched an advert?

    Personally I record all the stuff I want to watch and then spend the week playing catch up, just fast forward through the Ad's.

    Now instead of launching 3D TV if Sky could offer me a skip the ad's button I'd pay extra for that!

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    re: ASA Weasels

    Sorry, I just had to say that

    ASA WEASELS

    It has such a nice ring to it!

  18. wsm

    As if...

    no one on a home-based broadband connection ever expects the quality of any service provided to be anything but the best.

    Like the quality we expect of telephone calls has declined since the advent or mobile phones, we don't really think that everything we get from an ISP will actually work as advertised--do we?

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