DFS TV advert banned after sofa complaints

A TV advertisement for DFS which saw actors dancing on its sofas to a rock song has been banned because the furniture looked bigger than it actually was.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 21 complaints from viewers about the advert which promoted the Doncaster-based retailer’s furniture.

DFS has admitted that actors were superimposed into the staged domestic settings where they played air guitar and mimed to the song Rockstar by band Nickleback.

DFS tried to defend the advert by saying it had not tried to make the sofas look bigger on purpose and claimed that showing larger sofas could actually have put off potential customers because of worries about them being too big.

But the ASA upheld the complaints and said although DFS had not intended to exaggerate the size of its sofas, some did appear large in relation to the actors.

It said the advert must not be broadcast again in its current form.