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'Sofa King Low' ad gets banned as everyone reads it three times to see the swear

29 February 2012
By Mof Gimmers

Sofa King have had their advertising slogan kicked square in the pips by the ASA. The phrase "our prices are Sofa King Low" has now been blacklisted after nine years of trading. Of course, this banning only serves to show off the interpreted swear to a wider audience and, of course, acts as free advertising for Sofa King.

sofa-king-low

The Advertising Standards Authority have upheld a complaint that the catchphrase was 'offensive and unsuitable for general display'.

A statement from the ASA says: 'The ASA noted that the phrase ‘Sofa King Low’ used the advertiser’s company name but considered that it could be interpreted as a derivative of the swear word ‘f***’, which consumer research had found to be a word so likely to offend that it should not be used in ads at all, even when it was relevant to the name of a product.'

The watchdog added: 'They said complaints made to Northamptonshire Police in 2004 were not taken further by the Crown Prosecution Service and that no complaints had been made direct to them. They said the slogan simply used their company name to refer to pricing and that the words had not been changed or run together or punctuation used in a way that was intended to cause offence. They did not believe the slogan caused serious or widespread offence.'

Rumours abound that Sofa King will now relocate to Norwich and now use the strapline of 'Norfolk 'n' good'.

TOPICS:   Advertising

17 comments

  • Mike g.
    So how the fuck does that work with FCUK?
    Reply ·
  • Alexis
    What drivel from the ASA. How was fcuk allowed then?
    Reply ·
  • Boris
    Hang on a minute.... Doesn't Mike Hock sound a bit like my cock? This is outrageous!
    Reply ·
  • Mustapha S.
    Next they'll be closing down the shoe shop next door, R. Soles.
    Reply ·
  • George O.
    ASA, hold on, that sounds like arser, they're being poofist.
    Reply ·
  • Arsene e.
    Whatever happened to great British tolerance? I think the ASA should be shot.
    Reply ·
  • Head
    true, fcuk should be banned too.
    Reply ·
  • Russ
    The person who reported it to Northamptonshire Police in 2004 should have been up in court for wasting police time, pathetic
    Reply ·
  • Samantha
    lols maybe they can change their slogan to "Sofa King Cheap" if it takes the ASA another 9 years to act they'll be golden.
    Reply ·
  • samuri
    That's Sofa King Awful
    Reply ·
  • Mike H.
    I don't suppose my company slogan, 'Our prices are so fucking low you cunts' will wash then?
    Reply ·
  • Mary H.
    My company sell fur coats and the like. Our slogan is, 'Shhhh, it's a Fur King sale!'
    Reply ·
  • Dick
    I used to buy takeaways from the Fu King Chinese Takeaway.
    Reply ·
  • Mary H.
    Hi Dick. I used to go there too. I used to order, 1. Cream of Sum Yun Gi 2. Wun Hang Lo 3. Suk Sum Dik 4. Lik Dik 5. Hu Flung Dung
    Reply ·
  • Inspector G.
    And the Sofa King is rubbing his royal hands in glee at the millions of pounds worth of free advertising he is getting.
    Reply ·
  • Mark W.
    I'd better think again about my new patented expectorant. I was going to call it 'FOR COUGHS'
    Reply ·
  • Mike H.
    You can have FCUK, a group called LMFAO, Scunthorpe, Arsenal but Sofa King low is not allowed?
    Reply ·

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