Nokia slapped on the wrist for “flash” ads

January 23, 2012 | By Surur

Nokia and UK TV station Channel 5 have been found in breach of Rule 9.19 of the Office of Communication’s Code which states: “Sponsorship must be clearly identified by means of sponsorship credits.”

These must make clear:
a) the identity of the sponsor by reference to its name or trade mark; and
b) the association between the sponsor and the sponsored content.

The problem were the very brief, almost subliminal flash ads, which did not make it clear Channel 5 was being sponsored by Nokia, unlike the longer “ident” which does say Channel Sponsor Nokia Lumia. Channel 5 argued the two would normally be seen together, making excessing wording on the half second flash ads unnecessary, but Ofcom did not buy that rational.

The UK regulator did not specify what punishment would be metred out, but in all likelihood it will be no more than a public apology, and Nokia gets some free extra publicity out of their advertising budget.

Now when is Ofcom going to tackle Stephen Elop about that “First real Windows Phone” claim he constantly makes…

See the judgement on page 26 of this PDF here.

Thanks Shaun for the tip.

5

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged marketing, nokia, video, windows phone 7.5

Anonymous

The word you are referring to is “ident” and NOT “iNdent”.
Anonymous

This story made me laugh a little, however this:
“Now when is Ofcom going to tackle Stephen Elop about that “First real Windows Phone” claim he constantly makes…” I don’t get it, I hope you were being sarcastic because companies always say Stuff like this, Nokia isn’t accountable for that.

Anonymous

@MarkXW:disqus…Nokia did something really bad to Surur. Don’t pay Surur any attention as he must exact his vengence with snide little quips, and sometimes erroneous reporting when it comes to Nokia.

Anonymous

Why so apple-sour surur?
Anonymous

I feel like I just wasted about 10 minutes… First, trying to figure out what was written, “making excessing wording..”?. Second, checking the linked PDF for clues, and then third, wondering why this is even a story (took most of the 10 minutes). All in all, I got to see a cool Nokia advert, listen to a nice female voiceover (yes, the accent adds interest to us Yanks, LOL), and am still bewildered why anyone would think this news-worthy. Oh, well. It’ll be a little mystery until I forget about it.

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