ASA Adjudication on Express Newspapers

Ad

A reader offer in the Daily Express, for a watch, stated “Radio-controlled accuracy with this Solar Powered Watch”. The ad featured a picture of the watch and text under it read “No batteries, no winding”. Further text in the body of the ad stated “... No batteries or hand winding are required, very simply the graphite face on this watch hides a solar panel enabling it to stay charged during everyday wear. As well as self power the watch features amazing accuracy, literally to a second in sixty million years which is achieved by picking up a constant signal from the atomic clock in Cumbria”. The ad featured a telephone order number, a website and an address for postal orders.

Issue

A reader, who responded to the offer, objected that the ad was misleading because he believed:

1. the claims about the watch not requiring batteries were misleading, as it contained a solar rechargeable battery;

2. the claims about accuracy were exaggerated.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. Express Newspapers t/a The Daily Express said the watch featured a lithium battery, also known as a capacity battery, which stored solar energy. They said if that was not the case the watch would stop at night. They said the ad was trying to express that the watch would never require the pre-powered batteries usually inserted at a repair shop and said they would be happy to state that on all future offers.

2. The Daily Express said this statement was industry standard for radio controlled watches. They said the National Physical Laboratory was the UK's time-keeper and since 2004 the atomic signal had represented a measured accuracy of plus or minus one second in 60 million years.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA acknowledged that the intention of the ad was to convey that the watch did not require the type of battery used in most ordinary watches. However, because the watch contained a lithium battery to store solar energy, which would need to be replaced eventually, we concluded that the claim "No batteries" was likely to mislead.

2. Upheld

We understood that radio controlled watches in the UK were tuned to a signal from a transmitter contracted by the National Physical Laboratory in Cumbria, which broadcast the time as measured by their atomic clock. We understood that the atomic clock could measure time very accurately by measuring cycles of light emitted by caesium atoms and knowing the rate at which those radioactive atoms decayed. However, whilst we noted the National Physical Laboratory's clock was considered by scientists to be accurate to plus or minus one second in sixty million years, we understood that radio controlled watches, which generally synchronised with the radio signal from the atomic clock once a day, were likely to be accurate to plus or minus one second per day, in line with the international time scale (known as UTC - Co-ordinated Universal Time). We concluded that the claim "the watch features amazing accuracy, literally to a second in sixty million years which is achieved by picking up a constant signal from the atomic clock in Cumbria" was likely to mislead by exaggerating the accuracy of the watch.  

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 7.1 and 7.2 (Misleading advertising).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)