Virgin Media Ad Starring Usain Bolt Banned Over 'Misleading' Broadband Claim

A Virgin Media TV ad featuring Usain Bolt has been banned for making "misleading claims" about broadband speeds compared to Sky and BT, according to Omar Oakes of CAMPAIGN LIVE. Created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, the Virgin Media ads "featured the Jamaican sprinter and a host of animal characters known as the Broadbandits." The ads, launched in Feb. '15, showed Bolt trying to watch Netflix and play online gaming, "while a voiceover explains that Virgin Media broadband stays superfast even when everyone is connected at home." It is not the first time a Virgin Media ad starring Bolt "has been banned by the ASA." In Sept. '14 the watchdog banned a similar ad which said that the company's Internet service could "download five times faster than Sky and regular broadband" (CAMPAIGN LIVE, 2/10).