Nissan censured over registration plate breach

A Nissan ad for its X-Trail car broke advertising rules over not showing illegal road activities by running an ad featuring a bike rack covering its registration plate.  

The  company – whose ad agency is Whybin TBWA – claimed that because the ad had been shot “under a controlled environment”, there had been no breach of the regulations.

But the Ad Standards board pointed out that advertisers should not portray “driving practices or other actions which would, if they were to take place on a road or road-related area, breach any Commonwealth law or the law of any State or Territory in the relevant Jurisdiction in which the advertisement is published or broadcast dealing directly with road safety or traffic regulation”. As a result the ASB  upheld the complaint.

Nissan responded that in a show of “good faith” it was investigating modifying the ad.