Asthma inhaler ad 'not offensive'

A newspaper advert showing a boy using an asthma inhaler under the headline "sucker" was not offensive, the advertising watchdog has said.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 26 complaints saying it ridiculed sufferers and may discourage children from using inhalers.

Channel 4, who placed the ad for a show on beating asthma, said it was a play on words to grab adults' attention.

The ASA agreed saying it was unlikely it would stop children using inhalers.

The advertisement was for a Dispatches programme called How To Beat Your Child's Asthma.

'Simple measures'

Two MPs, a professor of respiratory medicine, Asthma UK and others complained to the ASA that the advertisement was offensive because it denigrated and stigmatised asthma sufferers.

They claimed it was irresponsible because it implied conventional asthma medication was foolish.

And they also complained the advert was likely to discourage parents of children with asthma from seeking essential medical treatment.

We concluded that the ad did not imply that taking conventional asthma medication was foolish

ASA

Channel 4, in its defence, said the documentary was about how "simple allergen avoidance measures" could help some children to become less reliant on prescription inhalers.

They said they did not think the "overwhelming majority" of people who saw the advert would be offended or alarmed but apologised for "any unnecessary distress".

In its ruling the ASA said it considered the word suckers was "designed to grab readers' attention and in the context of an ad for an asthma documentary was likely to be understood as a play on words".

"We concluded that the ad did not imply that taking conventional asthma medication was foolish," it added.

It also concluded the ad was "was unlikely to discourage parents from seeking essential medical treatment for their children's asthma".