Padraig Harrington’s fake TV advertisement banned
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), one of the advertising watchdogs, has banned a TV commercial which portrays Padraig Harrington supporting a laser treatment for the eyes and claimed that it has benefitted the three-time major winner with his trade.
Harrington decided to promote a surgical treatment carried out by the Optical Express which takes care of the cataract and helps improve the eye sight of the patients, while Harrington, reportedly, has never undergone the treatment himself.
In the ad Harrington said, “People often ask me: how can I improve my game? I tell them the secret is to stay focused. And of course it's important to have great vision. I need to be able to look down the line, focusing clearly on the target. My advice?
Visit Optical Express … It could help your game too.”
The ASA took notice of 23 of the 25 complaints lodged by Optical Express’s rival laser eye surgery firm Ultralase and found out that Harrington has never undergone the treatment ever in his life. Optical Express has requested for a review of all the 25 complaints
and maintains that there was no duplicity or “hidden facts” in the advertisement. They also claim that the ad itself never made it appear as if Harrington has undergone laser treatment but portrayed him just promoting the company’s laudable contribution to
the laser eye surgery.
The ASA has also turned down Optical Express’s request for a review, seriously harming the company’s integrity and respect among the general public. In case the company would like to go ahead to file another appeal against the ASA decision, chances are that
the rival Ultralase will gather more prominence which could be detrimental to Optical Express’s efforts to make up for the collateral damage.
“This is a crushing blow for Optical Express,” said Nina Best, an advertising law specialist at law firm Browne Jacobson. “The decision to challenge has given rival eyecare business Ultralase more publicity than it could have bargained for in the first place.”
The 39-year-old Irishman was not available for comments on the devastating repercussions of the ad which had been doing rounds for quite a while.
Harrington has won the Open Championship twice in his stellar career and is one of the most successful golfers from Ireland. His high stature and public recommendation pushed Optical Express to ask him for the advertisement which will now be off-air.
The Irishman will be playing at the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour this week where he will try to improve his rankings on the FedExCup in a bid to make it into the Playoffs at the end of the season. The Irishman has not won an event since December
2010.
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