Tom Daley HTC Ad Banned
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An advert showing Olympic swimmer Tom Daley using a smartphone near a pool has been banned on the grounds that similar usage by consumers would break the phone. HTC has promoted the ad since mid-2017.
An investigation by the UK’s advertising watchdog discovered that the device’s own instructions said the phone should not come into contact with pool water, or it could damage the phone. HTC has yet to respond.
The BBC, however, found that the ad still remained on the Taiwanese firm’s YouTube channel (it has since been removed). The advert was supposed to be used to highlight its ‘squeezable sides’ feature. Squeezing the phone would trigger a photo to be taken from the front camera.
The advert showed Daley repeatedly jumping off a diving board and taking photos of himself as he did so. In addition, he was shown using the phone coming out of the water. The firm defended this by stating the phone was waterproof up to a depth of 1m. They said that due to Daley having his hand above his head as he dived, the phone went no deeper than this.
There is also a warning on the ad stating you shouldn’t try this at home.
The ASA has determined that a normal member of the public would almost certainly end up going further than the depth shown in the ad. HTC did admit, however, that ‘there were too many variations of water temperature and chemical composition’ to be able to say that the U11 could be used in most swimming pools.
Plus, it’s a swimming pool.
You go there to swim.
Leave your phone in the locker you animal.