A company which offered payday loans so that people could use the cash to “put towards a ‘Kiss Me Quick’ hat for the beach” has been criticised today.
Cash Converters - which also offers longer-term loans and pawnbroking services - sent out a summer mailing with the offending message.
The ad also suggested that the cash borrowed could be used for a barbecue or to help parents with “kids to entertain”. But it’s been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority for encouraging frivolous spending.
"We considered that summer holidays, entertaining the children, buying a new barbecue and a 'Kiss Me Quick' hat for the beach were all purchases that were unlikely to be considered essential purchases, and that the references to them suggested that taking out a loan or other type of cash advance for them was something that could be approached lightly,” The ASA said in its ruling, adding: "We considered that, by suggesting that loans or other types of cash advance could be used to fund non-essential purchases, the ad encouraged frivolous spending."
The ASA said any loan should be taken only after careful consideration and that firms flogging credit should advertise those products responsibly.
The Authority told Cash Converters “to ensure future advertising was prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers.”
It’s been forced to take action against a number of payday loan ads this year.
Cash On Go - which trades as Peachy Loans – had an ad banned after charity Citizens Advice said the use of cartoon images on the ad was “irresponsible because they presented a casual attitude to taking a loan”.
Adverts from Loan Monarch, Spends4u and Pounds to Pocket were also banned in July.
Last month Wonga was banned from using a TV advert that failed to tell borrowers of its 5,853 per cent annual interest rate. Earlier in the year it had an ad banned for implying the interest rate was "irrelevant".
In fact the struggling high-cost credit company has not screened any TV ads since the first half of the year and has scrapped the puppets that it used to use to flog its loans on television.
