Blinds business 247blinds has been told to be more appropriate with future advertising after causing offence on the grounds of disability.

A website advert for 247Blinds, www.247blinds.co.uk, seen on 8 July 2024, included the text that stated “Made-to-Measure Quality Blinds…WITHOUT HAVING YOUR EYES OUT! […] Blind envy starts here…” alongside an image of a person with paint splatters and stars over their eyes.

A single complainant, who was severely sight impaired, challenged whether the ad was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

In response, 247 Home Furnishings, trading as 247 Blinds, stated that the term “having your eyes out” was widely recognised as an expression used to signify someone’s eyes popping out in disbelief to show unfavourable surprise when faced with something that was overpriced.

Their intention was to convey that customers would be pleasantly surprised by their prices and so would not “have their eyes out” when they saw them. Whilst they acknowledged that the play on words “Quality Blinds” may have been seen as in poor taste, they believed that most people would have found it humorous, rather than seriously offensive.

This was the only complaint they had received and it had been viewed on their website by 182,000 users and had been shown on various online platforms, resulting in over 1.7 million impressions during this period. The campaign finished at the end of July and would no longer be available online.

However, following an assessment by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), it found that the CAP Code required marketers to ensure that ads did not contain anything that was likely to cause serious or widespread offence, with particular care to be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of various protected characteristics, including disability.

“We acknowledged that the claim “Quality Blinds” was intended as a humorous play on words related to the advertiser’s product, window blinds, and the verb, to blind,” the ASA said. “We also acknowledged that the claim “Having your eyes out” was an expression known to some people to mean your eyes popping out in disbelief at something, for example, a high price.

“However, we considered that all the elements of the ad seen together, the play on words, “Quality Blinds”, the use of the expression “WITHOUT HAVING YOUR EYES OUT!” and the image of the person with stars and paint splatters covering their eyes, would be understood as a reference to blindness, and had the effect of making light of the disability. We therefore concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious offence to some people.

“We told 247 Home Furnishings Ltd t/a 247 Blinds to ensure that their future ads did not cause serious or widespread offence, particularly on the grounds of disability.”