ASA Adjudication on Digital One Limited

Ad

Two radio ads for DAB digital radio.

a. The first ad included the voiceover "Just when you thought listening to Classic FM couldn't get any better along comes DAB digital radio". A woman's voice said "I suppose I've had my digital radio for about two and a half years and I couldn't be without it … I've spent a lot of time in the concert hall and sound is really important. You can hear the sound so perfectly in your ears. You could be there in a concert hall, it's magic". A voiceover said "DAB digital radio. Radio never sounded so good. Find out more and check your coverage at lovemyradio.com".

b. the second radio ad, which was a shorter version of ad (a), included the same woman’s voice. She said “You can hear the sound so perfectly in your ears. You could be there in a concert hall, it’s magic. A voiceover said "DAB digital radio. Radio never sounded so good. Check your coverage at lovemyradio.com".

Issue

A listener, who believed DAB radio did not always offer better sound quality than FM, complained that the ads were misleading, because the sound quality of DAB was not equivalent to "a concert hall" and the claim "radio never sounded so good" was inaccurate.

BCAP Radio Code

Response

Digital One said the female voice in the ads was that of a DAB digital radio owner who had given a personal opinion about her experience of listening to digital radio. They believed her comment about the concert hall was a reference to how she felt when she listened; it was not a statement of fact. They said, when the testimonials were gathered the brief had been to capture the personal experiences of genuine DAB digital radio owners and to hear them talk about why they enjoyed listening to their digital radio.

They said they had not intended the claim "radio never sounded so good" to be interpreted as a comparison between FM and digital radio. They said the ads did not refer to any other radio platform and the claim was intended to be heard as their opinion. They believed other platforms could also legitimately use the same claim in that way.

Digital One said the Digital Radio Development Bureau (DRDB) had conducted research into digital radio listeners' satisfaction with sound quality and the results indicated that 88% of DAB digital radio owners rated the sound quality as 'excellent' or 'good'.

Digital One's agency, Cube Productions, said Digital One had sent them two CDs with independent testimonials from 18 different listeners, together with signed documentation which confirmed their authenticity. They said the claim in the ads was taken directly from one of those testimonials and represented the womans personal experience of DAB digital radio quality.

The Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC) said the ads gave a genuine testimonial of one person's experience of listening to Classic FM on her digital radio. They said they believed listeners were likely to understand from the claims in the ads that the sound quality of digital radio was good and evoked the same feelings in the woman as when she went to a concert hall; they considered that listeners were unlikely to interpret the claim literally. They said they considered that listeners would understand the claim "radio never sounded so good" to be a subjective statement, not a comparative claim. They said listening to digital rather than FM provided a number of benefits, for example, easy tuning, easy navigation of systems, additional stations, the display and scrolling text. They believed the claim "Just when you thought listening to Classic FM couldn't get any better, along comes DAB Digital Radio" was about the overall experience and not merely a claim about sound quality.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted the ads made no direct claims about the sound quality of digital radio. We considered the style of the ads made clear that the woman was talking about her own personal experience of listening to digital radio and listeners were therefore likely to interpret the claim "You could be there in a concert hall" as an opinion rather than a statement of fact. We considered that the claim "radio never sounded so good" was, particularly in the context of the whole ad, likely to be interpreted as Digital Ones opinion of DAB digital radio. We concluded that the ads were unlikely to mislead.

We investigated the ads under CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code section 2 rule 3 (Misleadingness) and section 2 rule 4 (Superlative Claims) but did not find them in breach.

Action

No further action required.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)