Lebara Mobile poster ad breaches road safety rules says Ad Standards Board
A poster ad for Lebara Mobile has been censured by the ad watchdog for depicting a couple on a scooter without helmets.
The poster featured an image of a man and a woman on a scooter with the woman standing up behind the seated man while neither are wearing helmets.
A complaint to the Advertising Standards Board focused on the safety issues presented in the ad, saying: “The two people on the motorbike are not wearing helmets. The rear passenger appears to be standing up off her seat”.
Lebara defended the ad to the ASB, saying it was intended to “convey to customers the freedom of having a large amount of data (5GB), unlimited national talk, text and MMS”.
The mobile company said that the image of the couple “was taken overseas and conveys a couple perhaps on holidays, outside of Australia, where motorcycle laws are more relaxed”.
In its ruling, the ASB considered “that the provisions of the Australian Road Rules are very clear that even if a motor bike is stationary, a helmet must be worn by both the driver and any passenger”.
While the exception of this rule is if the motor bike is parked, it was the board’s view that in the ad “there is a strong suggestion that the bike is not parked but is in the process of being used” and therefore breached the Australian road rules.
The complaint was upheld.
In response to the ruling, Lebara said it was “in the process of finalising new advertising to replace the existing advertisements”.
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