Advertising Watchdog Clears Samsung over Controversial TV Advert

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has decided not to take any action over Samsung’s recent smartwatch advertising campaign because it “did not encourage an unsafe practice and were not irresponsible”.

Launching in April 2022, a recent Samsung advert depicts a woman running through the streets of a city alone at 2 am. This is with the premise that with the help of devices such as their smartwatch, you can exercise any time day or night to suit you. However, this advert received 27 complaints in total, backed by women’s running groups and campaigns, suggesting that the advert shows an unrealistic scenario where women can safely run late at night alone, and potentially puts women at risk.

See the advert in full above

The purpose of most adverts is for the actors to represent an idealisation of where the viewer would like to be in their lives, whether it’s looking desirable in the latest fashion, or having the time of their lives on an exotic holiday. Due to this, it could be argued that the depiction of this attractive woman having a fantastic experience jogging through the streets of the city at 2 am does encourage others to do the same, when in reality women would usually avoid being alone at night, whether to jog or simply walk home from a  friends’ house.

Whilst the ASA have cleared this advert and not imposed a ban, Samsung clearly missed the elephant in the room when they launched this advert. They have since apologised for how it may have been received and claimed it was never their intention to be insensitive to ongoing conversations around women’s safety.

What are your thoughts on this advert? A harmless attempt to show that people can exercise no matter what their schedules, or an advert that may encourage women to end up in dangerous situations? Let us know in the comments.