*Dependant on the game

A few weeks before Wii U launched in the UK, Nintendo ran an advert showing off a few of the new system's features. One of the elements displayed was the ability to switch the action from the television to the GamePad – the advert showed how a gamer allowed his girlfriend to watch TV while he happily played New Super Mario Bros. U on the GamePad.

The Advertising Standards Authority however has taken action against the commercial after receiving just a single complaint from the British public. The issue in question was that the advert may have been misleading in the way it showed the ability to play games on the GamePad alone.

Nintendo felt that the advert was simply displaying the functional capabilities of the hardware which included the ability to play games on the GamePad; however this was dependant on the feature being incorporated into the title – something that varies from game to game. Nintendo did not believe that the average consumer viewing the advert would think the feature would be on all games.

The ASA upheld the complaint however, saying the following:

The ASA considered that it would be clear to consumers that many of these features would not be available in all games. However, we considered that the option to switch gameplay to the GamePad controller could be available on all games, and as this was a new console consumers would not have an awareness of whether this was something specific to individual games or a general feature of the console. We considered that, in this context, the ad should have made clear that this feature would not be available on all games. Because it did not, we concluded the ad was misleading.

Because of this, the advert may not be shown again in its current form.

The banned commercial is below, do you feel it was misleading? Let us know what you think.

[source asa.org.uk]