News
MIA makes Dettol come clean
Gary Cooper Nov 17 2008, 10:51pm
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TV ad triggers keyboard fears
Piano manufacturers and dealers were thrown into a state of alarm last week when a television advert for Dettol appeared to suggest owners should spray their keyboards with the antiseptic spray - potentially causing a rush of failures and expensive complaints, it was feared.
The advertisement depicted two children seated at a piano. When one of them sneezed, a concerned mother reached for her can of Dettol and sprayed the keys.
One of the first to hear alarm bells was Yamaha, which immediately contacted the MIA, says the Association’s Paul McManus.
“Obviously, nothing should be sprayed on a piano’s keyboard and the worry was that people seeing this could reach for a can to spray on their electric keyboards too - and that is an even more worrying prospect!”.
The MIA’s first port of call was the Advertising Standards Authority which, McManus says, reacted with impressive speed, as apparently did Dettoll’s owners, Reckitt Benckiser, when contacted directly.
The company explained that the idea its product might do harm simply hadn’t occurred to it and agreed not to screen the offending commercial again, pending tests to find out whether, in fact, Dettol did actually represent a hazard to piano owners.
“Obviously, the concern was that retailers and manufacturers might suddenly find themselves faced with a stream of costly failures - or worse - so it is good news that Reckitt Benckiser reacted so positively and so swiftly,” McManus said.
MI Pro understands that Yamaha is currently conducting product tests with one of its keyboard specialists to determine how safe, or otherwise, the product might be, if used in this way.
Comments
“Dettol”
Posted by: kim - Nov 20, 3:36pm
I must admit, as someone who works in a shop selling both acoustic and digital pianos I was very worried about this ad - all those years of Kemble training as to how to clean keywork!
In fact I screeched at the tv when the ad came on - my partner must have thought I was mad! I'm glad Reckitt have acted so quickly though. You can buy antiseptic key wipes, so this would probably be the answer, I would have thought