In a recent ruling, the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) was asked to weigh in on a consumer complaint regarding a series of radio ads for Naked Insurance, a South African insurance company known for its innovative approach to instant, app-based insurance services.
The complaint revolved around the campaign’s play on the words "wait" and "weight" loss, which some listeners found insensitive, particularly those grappling with body image issues and eating disorders.
The advert in question used the tagline, “Lose Wait. Get Naked,” with the voiceover narrating how the “leading cause of wait gain in the world today is... the insurance company call centre.” The campaign highlighted how Naked Insurance’s AI-driven platform could reduce the time consumers spend on the phone with insurance providers by allowing them to manage policies directly through an app.
Complaint and consumer concerns
A listener lodged a complaint with the ARB, stating that the ad was "incredibly insensitive" and triggered personal struggles related to their eating disorder. The complainant expressed that the light-hearted comparison between the frustrations of waiting for customer service and the complexities of weight loss was harmful and tone-deaf, as it trivialised a serious issue.
The complainant emphasised that while they did not believe the campaign was intentionally harmful, it was nevertheless "completely tone-deaf" and called for the ads to be withdrawn.
Advertiser's defence
Although Naked Insurance did not formally respond, the provider suggested that the complainant may have misunderstood the intent behind the campaign. The company explained that the campaign’s focus was on reducing the frustration of long call centre waits, rather than trivialising weight loss. The adverts, Naked Insurance argued, were designed to highlight how their app offered a time-saving alternative to traditional insurance processes, and the wordplay was simply a creative device to communicate this.
“Upon careful review, it seems as if the complainant may have misunderstood the message of our Lose Wait campaign. Contrary to the complaint, there are no advertisements in the campaign that ‘imply that changing your insurance provider is as easy as losing weight’.”
The ARB’s Ruling
The ARB evaluated the campaign under Clause 1 of Section II of the Code of Advertising Practice, which states that no advertisement should offend against good taste or decency or be offensive to public sensitivities, unless justifiable in a democratic society.
While the ARB acknowledged the sensitivity surrounding weight loss and the potential for offence, they concluded that the advertisements did not directly suggest that weight loss was easy. The focus of the campaign, the ARB argued, was on the inconvenience of waiting, not on making light of people’s struggles with body image.
The ARB noted that while the campaign could be deemed to be in poor taste by some, it did not rise to the level of causing widespread offence or violating the Code. As such, the complaint was dismissed, and the campaign was allowed to continue airing.
