ASA gets the joke with Specsavers 'shock' ad

The Advertising Standards Authority has cleared Specsavers of creating a TV ad which could have been perceived as being 'offensive' or 'distressing' to viewers who were ill or had a relative with a serious illness or a disability.

The Advertising watchdog received 39 viewer complaints about the ad with some complainants believing that it closely resembled ads by health charities and questioned whether advertisers should use sensitive issues to sell products.

The ad showed a man and a woman in the garden of large building with people in white coats walking around. The man was seen sitting in a chair wearing a dressing gown, with a table next to him on which stood bottles of medicine.