A legal support app has been cleared of causing offence over an advertisement in which the voiceover used the word ‘shyster’.

The Advertising Standards Authority investigated Legal Utopia after a complainant said the word was a derogatory term used to describe Jewish people and challenged whether it was offensive.

The television ad from last October opened with a voiceover that stated: ‘I’ve discovered Legal Utopia; the app to help you save time and potentially save money.’ It continued by giving examples of when the app could be used, including ‘claims against shoddy shysters’, accompanied by a shot of a woman speaking angrily on the phone as she examined leaky pipes under a sink.

The ASA said there were a range of opinions about the etymology of the word ‘shyster’ and sought a view from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which had no concerns about its use.

Its ruling added: ‘We considered that in the context used in the ad, most viewers would understand the term ‘shyster’ as referring to an unscrupulous plumber who had carried out substandard work and failed to correct it.

‘We acknowledged that some viewers may find the term distasteful but we concluded that in the context of the ad it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.’

Legal Utopia said it had based its interpretation of the word on the Oxford English Dictionary definition of a ‘dishonest or unscrupulous person’, and argued that most interpretations of where the word came from did not have an antisemitic basis. Linking the word to the Shakespeare play The Merchant of Venice and its Jewish character Shylock was ‘exceedingly remote and unsupported’, it was submitted.

The ad had been referred to Clearcast, which operates the clearance system for television broadcasts, which had no objection or concern. Overall, Clearcast considered it was very clear from the context of the ad that the word would be interpreted by the viewer as it was intended by the advertiser - to mean unscrupulous or disreputable tradesperson.

The ad was cleared of causing any harm or offence and no further action was deemed necessary.

 

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