Making a Complaint

I saw a TV advert on Sunday that, for the first time, made want to make a complaint. The advert was quite short and simple, for BUPA and made a simple claim, if you go with BUPA you will be treated in a clean and comfortable hospital. You can see the advert here

Personally I was shocked, what idiot at BUPA decided that slagging off the NHS was a good way to promote private health care? In my experience, using negatives like this in advertising rarely results in a successful campaign. The advert does not mention the NHS by name, that would have gone way too far, but what other source of hospital care is commonly available in the UK? Any intelligent viewer would draw the same conclusions as I did.

Consequently, if I worked in the NHS (I don't, but mother worked as a nurse for many years), I would be deeply offended by the advert. There has been lots of talk over the past few years about cleanliness in hospitals and MRSA, but I am not aware of any research that shows private hospitals are any cleaner than NHS. In fact a quick search of the BUPA website shows no information to substantiate the claim, there is an article which claims that "access to a clean hospital" is the deciding factor in choosing health insurance, but no independent verification that BUPA hospitals are any cleaner than their "competitors".

We can debate the rights and wrongs about NHS funding, how the funds are used and the effectiveness of NHS management, but my reaction to the advert was more on behalf of the average NHS employee. I am sure the vast majority of these people are doing their best every day in a challenging environment and seeing an advert like that would be very irritating and annoying. I am sure people will tell me if I am wrong...

Anyway, it annoyed meso, I went along to the ASA website and registered my complaint. I know from personal experience that the ASA has the power to review an advert even if only one person complains. Of course, it is better if more do it too. So if you agree with me, don't sit there and do nothing, go to the ASA website and add your own complaint against BUPA.