The offending advert featured a man and a woman sitting on a sofa in their home. The man said: "My mum gave me this incredible watch," and the woman responded: "It can do so many amazing things.” The man then said: "Help start a business, pay school fees,” and the woman responded “Fly us to the Caribbean.”
But three viewers challenged whether the ad irresponsibly encouraged consumers to take out loans for non-essential purposes such as holidays and leisure activities.
The complaint was upheld with the ASA saying that it considered the reference to using high interest, short-term credit to fund non-essential purchases such as holidays was likely to be seen as “encouraging frivolous spending of that borrowed money”.
Borro boss Aitken says he’s determined not to let it happen again.
He said: “The advertisement in question ran for eight weeks only, and was removed from the air in March this year following an internal management decision, and prior to any communication with the ASA.
“But, following those conversations, we will ensure Borro’s future marketing communications are fully compliant with the necessary advertising guidelines.”
