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Sofa King ad banned in UK over F-bomb similarity

NORTHAMPTON, England — A British furniture retailer was banned Wednesday from using an ad that claimed its prices were “Sofa King low.”

UK advertising watchdog the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) upheld complaints that the advertisement for The Sofa King store in Northampton, central England, was “offensive and unsuitable for general display.”

The ASA acknowledged in its ruling that the ad’s strap line “could be interpreted as a derivative” of the F-bomb, “which consumer research had found to be a word so likely to offend that it should not be used in ads at all” — even when it was “relevant to the name of a product.”

The regulator said the ad “must not appear again in its current form.”

Three readers of a local newspaper had complained to the ASA about the ad, which was published in August last year.

In its defense, The Sofa King said the phrase “Where the Prices are Sofa King Low!” had been the firm’s slogan since it began trading nine years ago, adding it did not believe it had caused “serious or widespread offense.”

The firm also said no action had been taken over complaints made to Northamptonshire Police about the strap line in 2004.