Deliveroo advert banned after drawing record number of complaints

Deliveroo defended the advert saying it is clearly 'fantastical' in nature

A Deliveroo advert has been banned from TV screens after quickly becoming one of the most complained-about commercials of the year.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) deemed the advert to be misleading customers as it implied deliveries could be made from multiple restaurants in a single package without incurring additional charges.

The 30-second advert, called ‘All Your Family Favourites’, shows a woman pulling various different meals including a Greek salad, Wagamama, Pizza Express and Burger King from a single paper bag.

As the woman called out the names of several food outlets, on-screen text stated “geographical restrictions apply” and “separate orders must be made for each restaurant”.

But the regulatory body decided this wasn’t a sufficient warning to not be misleading.

In its ruling, the ASA said: “While we acknowledged Deliveroo’s willingness to include additional on-screen text to clarify the nature of their service, we considered such text was unlikely to be sufficient to alter the overall impression that their customers could order food from different restaurants to be delivered together.

“Because that was not the case, and because the ad did not state that a delivery charge would be applied to each order from a different restaurant, we concluded it was likely to mislead.”

The advert, which first aired in September, quickly became one of the most contentious adverts of the year receiving 300 complaints from viewers.

This makes it the third-most complained-about advert of 2019, according to ASA.

Although it has now pulled the advert, Deliveroo defended its stance saying that only 0.0006 per cent of those who viewed the advert had complained.

A spokesperson from the company said: “For the record, you can’t actually dive into your Deliveroo bag, however hungry you are.

“The advert is clearly fantastical in nature, including a woman diving into a Deliveroo bag.”

But the ASA said it is “unusual” to receive such a high volume of complaints about an advert being misleading, as most are made over offence caused.

Another advert by the delivery service, which aired in March, was also banned two months ago for being misleading as it wrongly suggested the company could deliver to anywhere in the UK.

The most-complained about advert of 2019 so far is by GoCompare, which shows a male opera singer being hit by a car.

Some 336 people said it trivialised car crashes, but ASA did not consider the rules to be broken.

An advert by Cheltenham Fireworks showing a dog wearing ear defenders is the second most complained about advert of the year so far, receiving 317 objections.

Viewers said the advert made light of the distress fireworks cause to some animals, prompting the company to withdraw it.