Ad watchdog rules against home insulation ad for failure to follow own safety guidelines
An ad for home insulation has fallen foul of the ad watchdog for a failure to depict the same dress and safety guidelines as the product’s packaging and website outlines.
The TV ad featured people receiving and installing Earthwool insulation in their home, however they fail to wear safety glasses or dust masks.
(Courtesy of Ebiquity)
A complaint to the Ad Standards Board (ASB) read: “Both the man and woman are not wearing safety glasses or dust masks. I have had a serious work place injury and I feel promoting unsafe practices at home or work is the wrong message to be sending people. There is research that show glass fibres can cause similar health problems that asbestos has caused. I think showing people handling materials safely is more important than showing people smiling for the camera.”
The advertiser, Knauf Insulation, defended the spot arguing the company was “not aware of scientific evidence linking modern biosoluble glasswool with similar health problems as those associated with asbestos”.
“In fact, the opposite is true – there has been extensive international research on the health and safety aspects of glasswool, which in 2001 resulted in biosoluble glasswool being classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as “not classified as carcinogenic to humans.”
Responding to the complaint about the lack of safety gear worn in the ad, Knauf Insulation said developments mean the product is now less itchy, and “many people (including professional installers) choose not to wear the recommended protective clothing and accessories”, whilst safety glasses are only needed when handling glasswool “overhead”, and dust masks are only recommended for poorly ventilated areas.
While the board considered that “most reasonable members of the community” would consider the installation of home insulation as “common practice”, the majority of the board viewed that “as the website and packaging provided strong suggestions for how to suitably dress when installing the product” and that most people in the community “would think it standard practice to install the batts on their own but to wear safety equipment” the complaint was upheld.
Miranda Ward
Linkedin
Yeh also… what about taking that racist channel 7 tvc ad for Border Security offline (aka Bogan security) ‘What’s wrong Mr Wong?”
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