An advert promoting Currys PC World’s ‘buy now pay later’ service has been banned by the UK ads watchdog.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that the advertisement, which was aired in December last year, irresponsibly “encouraged the use of credit to finance excessive spending on Christmas gifts” and breached UK Code of Broadcast Advertising rules.

The British electrical retailer said that it believed viewers were likely to understand that the ad was promoting their finance package, which was an option to pay for purchases within six months with no interest payable.

It told the ASA that they thought the ad would be interpreted as referring to the benefits of buy now pay later, rather than “encouraging consumers in financial difficulty to make excessive purchases through credit without careful consideration.”

The ban follows backlash from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which found that one in ten customers of a major bank who use the payment service are in arrears.

Last month the government gave the FCA the go-ahead to establish regulation for the credit option.

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