Ad Authority: Moto Guilty of Exaggerating Durability of Defy

"Three complainants challenged whether the ads misleadingly exaggerated the durability of the mobile phone, because they had dropped their phones accidentally and the screens had cracked," the ASA said in a statement.

The ASA acknowledged that while Motorola may have conducted several series of drop tests and specialized stress tests, and even selected parts for the phone based on their durability, the ads were misleading.

"Because we had not seen evidence that dropping the Defy from the height shown in the ads would not damage the phone, we concluded that the ads misleadingly exaggerated the performance of the product," the watchdog said.

The two ads for the Motorola Defy showed the phone being dropped on a dance floor and splashed at a pool party. Accompanying text read, "DANCE FLOOR PROOF," and "POOL PARTY PROOF." At one point, the phone is shown lying on the beach and the accompanying text reads, "BEACH PROOF." At the end of the TV spot, text on the screen reads "WATER RESISTANT, SCRATCH RESISTANT, DUST PROOF. It's life proof."

The Advertising Standards Authority said that while most users would likely interpret the ad to mean the product was simply more durable than one would ordinarily expect of a phone, the scene showing the mobile phone being dropped from a height on the dance floor (as well as the text "DANCE FLOOR PROOF" and "It's life proof") leads users to believe the phone would also not be damaged when it was dropped from the height shown in the ads (roughly chest height). As a result, the ASA found that Moto breached BCAP Code rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.9 (Substantiation) and 3.12 (Exaggeration).

Check the ad below and let us know what you think:

Read the full ruling here.