ASA Adjudication on Be Un limited

Ad

A banner ad on a social networking website for the broadband service Be Un limited (Be)stated "Up to 24Mb/s for £14".

Issue

The complainant challenged that this ad was misleading because when he pursued the offer on Be's website he found that it was not available.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Be Un limited (Be) said they offered download speeds of up to 24 Mb depending upon what a user's home phone line could support. They said the product "Be Lite", which offered up to 24 Mb broadband for £14 a month with a capped usage was replaced at the end of August with a new product "Be Value" which offered 8 Mb broadband for £14 a month with unlimited usage.  They said they understood from the advertising network running their ads on the social networking site that all their banners advertising the old product were taken down  by 6 September and new banners issued and developed between 11 and 13 September. They said they were sorry that a consumer had seen an ad for a product which was no longer available. They also said they would follow up the issue with the media buying agency responsible for managing their advertising on that serving network.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the complainant had seen the ad for the discontinued product "Be Lite" on the 22 September, after the date Be said they had expected this ad to be removed online. Because the product had been withdrawn at the end of August, we considered that the ad was misleading. We considered that it was Be's responsibility to ensure that product changes were communicated promptly to online media buying agencies. We welcomed Be's assurance that they would follow this up to ensure that out-of-date ads were not continued online in future.

Action

We told Be to ensure that their online advertising accurately reflected their broadband packages in future.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)