DirecTV Pulls its Rob Lowe Ads

Rob Lowe and his alter ego "Crazy Hairy Rob Lowe" in a spot for DirecTV (Photo by DirecTV).

LOS ANGELES - DirecTV has agreed to pull its ads featuring Rob Lowe portraying himself and various disagreeable alter egos after Comcast and others complained the ads were misleading.

DirecTV officials said the ads were retired before they became too campy and ineffectual. Earlier this week, Comcast accused the company of making misleading statements about how superior DirecTV service was over cable providers. Lowe was featured as himself and as alter egos that were decidedly less attractive who preferred cable. Among the characters he portrayed were "Crazy Hairy Rob Lowe," "Peaked in High School Rob Lowe," "Meathead Rob Lowe" and others.

Just yesterday, the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau recommended that the ads be pulled due to the claims they were making.

But Jon Gieselman, senior VP of DirecTV, told the Los Angeles Times that the ads were pulled before they "jumped the shark" or became ineffectual. The company had said the claims in the ads were “so outlandish and exaggerated that no reasonable consumer would believe that the statements being made by the alter-ego characters are comparative or need to be substantiated.”

DirecTV has begun airing ads starring Sports Illustrated model Hannah Davis who wears a bikini while riding a talking horse on the beach. The company said it had planned to move in a different direction even before Comcast filed its complaint.