{"id":193628,"date":"2025-09-24T07:10:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T06:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/?p=193628"},"modified":"2025-09-24T09:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T08:09:10","slug":"currys-e-scooter-ad-misleading-and-irresponsible-says-asa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/09\/currys-e-scooter-ad-misleading-and-irresponsible-says-asa\/","title":{"rendered":"Currys e-scooter ad \u2018misleading&#8217; and &#8216;irresponsible\u2019, says ASA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a paid-for Facebook ad from Currys after ruling it misled consumers and was socially irresponsible.<\/p>\n<p>The advert, seen on 10 May 2025, featured a video that opened with a cropped shot of a person gripping handlebars, their hair blowing back while engine sounds played.<\/p>\n<p>A wider shot revealed the individual was on a stationary e-scooter inside a Currys store, with two others moving the scooter and holding a fan towards them.<\/p>\n<p>The trio then said: \u201cCurrys sells what now?\u201d The clip ended with an image of the retailer\u2019s website listing for an e-scooter, accompanied throughout by the tagline: \u201cimagine pulling up on this! E-scooters available at Currys.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul class=\"rght-metabox-lists\">\n<li class=\"rght-metabox-flds\">\n<div class=\"rg-shortcode\">\n\t\t<div class=\"rght-related-articles-middle rght-latest-articles mb-4 mt-3\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h5>Related Story<\/h5>\n\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"rght-middle-related-article-list\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"rght-middle-related-article-box\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rght-middle-related-article-img\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/currys-names-shop-floor-veteran-as-new-boss-as-baldock-exits-for-boots\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/355462d7-4808-4176-8bec-590012941b1e-1024x682.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/355462d7-4808-4176-8bec-590012941b1e-1024x682.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/355462d7-4808-4176-8bec-590012941b1e-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/355462d7-4808-4176-8bec-590012941b1e.png 1537w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rght-middle-related-article-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/currys-names-shop-floor-veteran-as-new-boss-as-baldock-exits-for-boots\/\" class=\"rght-articles-content-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Currys names shop-floor veteran as new boss as Baldock exits for Boots<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"rght-articles-author-date\"><i class=\"far fa-calendar-alt\"><\/i><span>04\/06\/2026 x 8:31 AM<\/span><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>A complainant challenged the ad on the grounds that it was misleading and irresponsible, pointing out that privately owned e-scooters are illegal to use in public places.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_193639\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-193639\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-193639 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asa2-300x235.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"235\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asa2-300x235.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asa2.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-193639\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A screen grab of the Currys ad.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/09\/currys-new-business-hubs\/\">Currys<\/a> argued the advert was clearly filmed in-store, aligning with Department for Transport (DfT) guidance that e-scooters may only be used on private land with the landowner\u2019s permission. The retailer described the campaign as comedic and exaggerated, insisting the line \u201cimagine pulling up on this\u201d was ironic and not intended to imply road use. Currys also confirmed the ad had since been withdrawn.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asa.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ASA<\/a>, however, upheld both complaints. It found that despite the in-store setting, the imagery and caption suggested the scooters could be used to \u201carrive somewhere in style\u201d, implying public road use. The regulator said the ad omitted vital information about legal restrictions, leading consumers to believe the scooters could be used in public.<\/p>\n<p>On the first point, the watchdog concluded the ad was misleading, breaching CAP Code rules 3.1, 3.3 and 3.9 on misleading advertising.<\/p>\n<p>On the second, it ruled the ad socially irresponsible, as it appeared to condone behaviour likely to be unlawful by implying e-scooters could be ridden on public roads. This breached CAP Code rule 1.3 on social responsibility.<\/p>\n<p>The ASA ordered that the ad must not appear again in its original form and instructed Currys to ensure future marketing made clear that privately owned e-scooters cannot be used on public roads or in public spaces.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/newsletter-sign-up-retail-gazette?utm_source=Website&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_campaign=SignUp\">Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette\u2018s free daily email newsletter<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a paid-for Facebook ad from Currys after ruling it misled consumers and was socially irresponsible. The advert, seen on 10 May 2025, featured a video that opened with a cropped shot of a person gripping handlebars, their hair blowing back while engine sounds played. A wider shot revealed&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1899,"featured_media":193638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3818,3235,2620],"tags":[4660,5373],"class_list":["post-193628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-electrical","category-marketing","category-news","tag-asa","tag-currys"],"comment_count":0,"featured_video":false,"extra_images":false,"featured_youtube_video_url":"","featured_image_url":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asa.jpg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asa-300x251.jpg","views":"2,600","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1899"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193628"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193642,"href":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193628\/revisions\/193642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}