ASA Adjudication on Soke Media Ltd

Ad

An ad for Jason Weaver's private betting service, in the Racing Post, claimed "100% winning strike rate in August ... BIGGEST WINNER Adv 10-1".

Issue

The complainant, who subscribed to the service, challenged whether the claims:

1. "100% winning strike rate in August..."; and

2. "BIGGEST WINNER Adv 10-1" could be substantiated.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. Soke Media, on behalf of Jason Weaver's Private Service said that, until Saturday 18th August, the service had recorded a legitimate 100% winning strike rate from one bet advised in the month of August. They said the bet was proofed by the Racing Post's proofing department in advance.

2. They said the claim "Biggest winner adv 10-1" referred to the best winning odds they had tipped for the whole of 2007 and not just August. They said Jason Weaver's biggest priced advanced winner of 10-1 was proofed by the Racing Post on 18th May 2007.

The Racing Post confirmed that both bets were proofed before they appeared in the ad.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA acknowledged that the claim "100% winning strike rate in August ..." was factually correct. However, we considered that claim was exaggerated because it was based upon one bet advised in August only. We considered that readers were likely to infer that more than one winner had been tipped by the claim "100% winning strike rate in August ... ". Because the ad did not make clear that the claim was based on one winner only, we concluded that claim was misleading.

On this point we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 6.1 (Honesty), and 7.1 (Truthfulness) and found it in breach.

2. Upheld

We acknowledged that the claim "Biggest winner Adv 10-1" referred to a bet that was proofed by the Racing Post in May 2007. However, we considered the ad implied the biggest winner was advanced odds of 10-1 in August because the claim was positioned directly below the first claim "100% winning strike rate in August ..." and because of the use of punctuation in that first claim. We concluded that, because it was ambiguous which date the claim "Biggest winner Adv 10-1" referred to, the claim was misleading.

On this point we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 6.1 (Honesty), and 7.1 (Truthfulness) and found it in breach.

Action

We told Soke Media Ltd not to repeat the ad in its current form. We advised them to contact the CAP Copy Advice team for the amendments.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)