Audi ‘Send In The Clowns’ ad complaint rejected

A complaint against a TV advert that showed clowns driving dangerously and causing problems for Audi drivers has been quashed.

The ad, called ‘Send in the Clowns’, was designed to showcase an Audi’s variety of safety features, including driver assistance technology and adaptive headlights.

However, a complainant questioned if the advert exaggerated the car’s ability to avoid potential accidents, as well as the ‘benefit of safety features to consumers’.

In response, the German manufacturer told the Advertising Standards Authority’s investigation that the use of the clowns and setting were ‘clearly fantastical’, with the clowns’ behaviour and driving ‘comical and exaggerated to a ridiculous extent’.

It also pointed out that in contrast the driving of the Audis was nothing but responsible.

The watchdog found that Audi ‘believed the ad highlighted the existence and potential benefits of driver assistance features to consumers and did not exaggerate the benefit of those features’.

It also said ‘there was nothing to raise any inference that drivers were not paying appropriate attention to the road, or to suggest that viewers did not need to’.

Ruling that the complaint couldn’t be upheld, it said ‘viewers would understand that the scenes were not depictions of real-life scenarios, and were likely to consider the references to clowns as intended to represent bad or dangerous drivers, which the Audi’s safety features could help drivers guard against’.

It added that ‘the ad did not exaggerate the benefit of safety features to consumers or suggest that the vehicles’ features enabled them to be driven in complete safety’.