CAR ADVERTS FACE ASA CLAMPDOWN

The authority is concerned that they may encourage road accidents.A spokesman said the ASA would ask car makers to tone down speed and acceleration claims in the current crop of adverts. He said it might criticise any that fail to comply. "We do have plans to say something publicly in the next few weeks about the way speed is being used," he said. "To put it in perspective, we're looking into 16 complaints at the moment. It's the public who are concerned." He said the ASA had noticed a "steady upturn" in adverts using car power, speed or acceleration as their "predominant theme". Manufacturers are free to use them as secondary themes, though the ASA is worried that many adverts also feature "irresponsible driving". Roads minister Baroness Hayman and motoring organisations are adding their weight. However, press reports that the ASA would ban "macho" adverts if the minister asked were misleading. The ASA has no power to ban adverts, though it can ask the media not to show those it has criticised. It can also ask trade associations to deprive members of benefits if they ignore its criticisms. Last month Baroness Hayman asked the ASA to look into Audi's planned Cabriolet poster campaign, which suggests the car is too fast to be caught in the poster's speed camera picture of an empty road. And she asked the Independent Television Commission to block VW's £14m Passat commercial in which a driver shrugs off the effects of poor driving. In one day last week, the ASA received three complaints about speed in car adverts by Toyota, Volvo and Nissan. The 16 speed related complaints it has received so far this year compare with 18 speed related complaints it upheld last year. Altogether last year it upheld 24 complaints about car adverts.