The UK Advertising Standards Authority Finds Jaguar Advert Irresponsible and Encouraging Dangerous Driving Practices

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has criticized Jaguar over an “irresponsible” newspaper advert, which ASA says encourages dangerous driving practices.

The advertorial, published in the Guardian on 24 September 2016, highlighted how the features of XE model’s interior allow executives to work on the move. The headline of the advertorial was: “Drive time is no longer downtime,” and it said: “For busy executives, the car is increasingly becoming an extension of the work place.”

“What was once a cocoon of time in limbo is being transformed into productive reclaimed time.”

The text highlight features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity and a dashboard calendar to claim that it was possible to “turn journey time into productivity”.

The watchdog said the story was “irresponsible” and likely to encourage unsafe driving practices.

The ASA had received two complaints, and carried out an assessment of the advertisement.

“We accepted that driving whilst using a hands-free mobile phone kit was not, of itself, illegal. However, we noted that the Highway Code stated that using hands-free equipment was likely to distract drivers’ attention from the road and advised that they used a voicemail facility and stopped to make or take calls,” the ASA’s assessment said.

“The Highway Code also advised that there was a danger of driver distraction being caused by in-vehicle systems such as satellite navigation systems, congestion warning systems, PCs and multi-media.”

It further added: “Whilst we understood that the work related activities and communicating with family could be carried out in the car via hands-free technology, we considered that they were likely to distract a driver’s attention from the road and therefore preventing them from having full control of the vehicle.”

“Therefore, we concluded that the advertorial was irresponsible because it was likely to encourage unsafe driving practices.”

The ASA said the advertorial should not appear again in its current form, and that the future adverts from Jaguar Land Rover must not encourage drivers to carry out tasks that distract their attention from the road.

A spokesman for Jaguar Land Rover said it was “disappointed”.

“For all of the connected car technologies we offer our customers, we will always offer what is safe to do whilst driving,” he added.

“The hands-free technology in the Jaguar XE has been developed and tested to allow users to put their phone safely and legally away, and give priority to focus on the driving experience.”