It seems all’s fair in the newspaper war over UK’s online audience. Newspapers are stretching advertising limits, and not everyone is liking it.
An ad for the new Times Online website featuring a woman in a bra with money stuffed into her cleavage could soon be investigated by the country’s advertising watchdog after a member of the public complained, Media Guardian has reported.
The complainant said that the poster advertisement, which is part of a campaign to promote last week's launch of the new-look Times Online, was “irresponsible” and should not be shown where it can be seen by children.
The ad is accompanied by a quote from Top Gear presenter and Sunday Times columnist Jeremy Clarkson: "Money and rumpy-pumpy are the twin engines powering everything we do". Times Online's new digital strategy is to provide "news plus views".
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), according to the Guardian, is considering whether to launch an investigation into the campaign, on the grounds that it could be in breach of the advertising code for taste and decency.
This follows close on the heels of ASA saying that it was considering investigating an ad for Telegraph.co.uk that claims it is the number-one national quality newspaper website. The £300,000 campaign, running across the London Underground network, quotes panel-sample figures for July to September 2006 from internet monitor Hitwise, according to Brand Republic.
Most internet research companies - which use the common measure of monthly unique users - rank the Daily Telegraph's website as around fourth most popular in the UK.
A Nielsen/NetRatings study put last December’s unique audience for Guardian Unlimited at 2,125,000, Times Online 1,587,000, and Telegraph.co.uk 1,007,000. Another study by ABC Electronic, and one by Comscore, also ranked the Guardian and Times above the Telegraph’s website.
