David Coulthard ad banned for encouraging dangerous driving

More than 50 people contacted watchdogs about the adverts for Aviva insurance which saw Scot Coulthard disguised as a taxi driver, with passengers in the back seats, driving at “excessive speeds” whilst performing various stunts on public roads.

Watchdogs ruled that the manner in which the car was driven was “extremely reckless” and that the adverts should not be shown again.

The adverts, screened in January this year, featured an on-screen warning not to attempt to recreate the scenes in the so-called Aviva Extreme Driving Experiment.

But 58 people complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), believing that the adverts “encouraged dangerous and irresponsible driving”.

Aviva said that the full version of the advert was no longer being broadcast, but an edited version would be shown until next month.

The firm stated that they had edited a “significant proportion” of the “extreme driving elements” from the advert to ensure balance and clarity around the message about the “Drive App” that was being promoted, which offered safer drivers a potential discount on their car insurance.

Aviva stated that the adverts were part of a broader campaign driven out of a “social purpose” to help make Britain’s roads safer. The firm said the stunts performed by Coulthard were “not intended to encourage or condone” dangerous and irresponsible driving, but to denounce and discourage it. Aviva believed the adverts “encouraged and promoted” safer driving.

But an ASA spokesman said: “We considered that the ad primarily focused on the high speed and stunts performed by the car, which consequently overshadowed the ‘warning’ and ‘experiment’ on-screen texts that appeared at the start of the ad.”

A spokeswoman for Aviva said: “It’s always our intention to comply with advertising guidelines so we’re disappointed by the ASA’s ruling, but we will, of course, abide by the ASA’s decision.

“We wanted to produce an advert which presented this idea in a completely different way, but still stayed true to the principles of safer driving by encouraging people to use our app which monitors their driving skills and rewards safer motorists.

“However, we appreciate that some viewers felt the advert may have sent out the wrong message.”